国际英语新闻：Pakistanis show rare unity to criticize U.S. court verdict

ISLAMABAD, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Pakistanis have taken to the streets across the country in recent days to criticize a United States court verdict to hand down 86-year jail term to a Pakistani neuroscientist, in which a widespread anti-American feeling emerges in Pakistan, experts say.

On Thursday, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui was convicted after a jury trial in a U.S. federal court, of assault with intent to murder her U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan's Ghazni province. Many in Pakistan do not believe in the U.S. prosecution's claim of the charges that also include carrying two pounds of deadly poison, a computer thumb drive, and descriptions of New York City landmarks, including the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Statue of Liberty.

The charges carried a maximum sentence of life in prison and she was sentenced to 86 years in prison. It is still a mystery that how Siddiqui disappeared with her three young children in March 2003 from Karachi, shortly after the arrest of her second husband's uncle, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Khalid, facing trial at Guantanamo prison, is the alleged chief planner of the September 11 attacks. Siddiqui was added to the FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism list in 2003, which stated that although the Bureau had no specific information connecting Siddiqui to terrorism, it wanted to locate and question her.

In July 2008, she was arrested in Afghanistan outside the compound of the governor of Ghazni Province, on suspicion of being a suicide bomber.

Siddiqui family categorically rejected charges against her and alleged that the former government of President Pervez Musharraf had handed her over to the U.S..

The people of Pakistan may not know the real story of Siddiqui disappearance and her alleged attempt to attack the American nationals in Afghanistan.

But the U.S. court's conviction of Siddiqui has sparked wave of strike across Pakistan and the process will continue as announced by Siddiqui families and opposition and Islamist groups.