Chowrangi

Here is a new development in Nayyar Zaidi’s case.

Nayyar Zaidi, locked up in some federal prison in Ohio awaiting trial, appeared before Judge Kathleen McDonald O’Mailly on August 26 for a hearing following a motion he had moved requesting that he be allowed self-representation as he wished not to be represented by his court-appointed lawyer, Craig Weintraub. The judge told him that she would approve his request only after a competency test to determine if he was competent to plead his case himself. She also said his competency to stand trial would need to be determined.

Irshad Salim adds:

Zaidi said he is “alarmed” by the judge’s verdict because in case the psychiatric test he is administered finds him not competent to stand trial, he could be committed “for life” to a psychiatric detention facility until it is determined that he is fit to undergo trial. That could mean a lifetime, Zaidi said.

Zaidi has written to his home state Virginia’s Senator including some others as well as to Virginia Governor. He has also appealed for help from CPJ, ACLU, PFUJ and wishes that U.S. correspondents and U.S Senators be informed by the media about his predicament.

Nayyar Zaidi is detained since March 2008 in an Ohio jail and has been refused bail.

Other posts by Kashif Aziz

• Urgently Wanted : Federal Ministers - November 19th, 2008
• GEO TV Transmission blocked in Karachi? - November 17th, 2008
• American meat exporters using fradulent halal certificates - November 14th, 2008
• The case of Khanani and Kalia - November 10th, 2008
• Alcohol Exports Bring $220 Million To Pakistan - November 9th, 2008
• Open Letter of Appreciation to Government of Pakistan - November 5th, 2008
• Earthquake Strikes in Balochistan: More than 250 dead, 20,000 displaced - October 30th, 2008
• Pity the Nation - October 26th, 2008
• Lab Pay Aati Hai Dua .. Ban Kay Tamanna Meri - October 16th, 2008
• Predictions of the Century: The Fate of Sarah Palin, and Asif Ali Zardari and United States of America - October 12th, 2008