A U.S.-trained Pakistani scientist convicted in 2010 of shooting American soldiers while in Afghan custody will not have the court’s initial ruling overturned.

Aafia Siddiqui’s bid for freedom was rejected by Judge Richard Berman in New York on Thursday. She asserted that her case should have been thrown out because she was forced to use lawyers provided by the Pakistani government, The Associated Press reported Thursday.

On July 17, 2008, Siddiqui, who has a PhD. in neuroscience from Brandeis University, was found with notes on how to make “dirty bombs,” along with references to a “mass casualty attack” after being detained by Afghan authorities. Documents in her possession also listed locations such as the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street and the Brooklyn Bridge, the U.S. Department of Justice said in 2010.

Siddiqui, who married the nephew of self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, is serving an 86-year prison sentence for the 2008 confrontation with American troops, AP reported.

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