WASHINGTON: Pakistan on Wednesday voiced dismay after a US court found a Pakistani woman guilty of trying to kill American troops in Afghanistan and vowed to press her case.

Aafia Siddiqui, 37, a neuroscientist trained at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was found guilty on all charges by a jury in federal court in New York.

“We are dismayed over the unexpected verdict of the jury in Dr. Aafia Siddiqui’s case,” Pakistan’s embassy in Washington said in a statement.

“The government of Pakistan made intense diplomatic and legal efforts on her behalf and will consult the family of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui and the team of defense lawyers to determine the future course of action,” it said.

“The government will do all that is needed to provide justice to her as a Pakistani citizen,” it said.

A family lawyer has already announced an appeal, citing “prejudice and bias” against Siddiqui.

In Karachi, Siddiqui’s frail 70-year-old mother said the family had been braced for the verdict and would continue their efforts to secure her release.

“I did not expect anything better from an American court. We were ready for the shock and will continue our struggle to get her released,” Ismat Siddiqui told AFP from her home in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal neighbourhood.

“The verdict is a humiliation for America. The verdict symbolises the beginning of the downfall of American might,” she added.

Siddiqui’s mother also blamed the Pakistan government, which is a US ally in the war in Afghanistan and which had also expressed dismay over the verdict.

“What has happened clearly shows the lack of seriousness on part of our government in getting her released.”

Aafia Siddiqui’s elder sister Fowzia, a doctor, slammed the US justice system.

“The verdict shows that American justice system cannot provide justice to innocent people,” she told AFP.

“She is innocent… She has never been a staunch religious person but she loved people and other creatures of Allah in distress and never shied away from helping them.”

She claimed her sister was set up and kidnapped by Pakistani intelligence on the way to catch a flight from Karachi to Islamabad.

“She was picked up by (former president) Pervez Musharraf’s men while she was on her way to airport to leave Karachi for Islamabad. She was then handed to the Americans, so how can she go to Afghanistan on her own?”