Got a call from Nayyar Zaidi today from the Northeast Ohio Correctional Facility where he remains detained for alleged teen sex crime. It was a followup to his handwritten notes that were faxed to me yesterday by his wife Shaheen.
Zaidi said he has been told by the Federal Court judge that in order to determine if he can represent himself, he will have to undergo a competency test as well as a psychiatric test to determine his competency to stand trial.
The October 6 hearing has thus been postponed until the court determines if he is "fit to undergo trial".
Zaidi appeared before Judge Kathleen McDonald O’Mailly on Aug. 26 for a hearing following a motion he had moved requesting that he be allowed to represent himself as he said he had no confidence in the court-appointed defense lawyer, Craig Weintraub's ability to represent him satisfactorily.
He has refused to hire an attorney to plead his case, citing financial constraints.
The Federal judge told him that she would approve his request only after a competency test to determine if he was competent to represent himself. She also said his competency to stand trial would need to be determined first.
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.
The competency test is part of the due process of U.S law for those individuals who wished to defend themselves in court.
Zaidi thinks it should not be meant for someone like himself, a highly educated man and one of Pakistan’s best known journalists and broadcasters who has been associated with the Jang Group of Publications for over 30 years.
It is possible that this latest development may suggest that the prosecution’s case against him– crossing state lines with the intention of committing a felony involving an underage female – is weak, said one observer.
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 Washington Correspondent or Washington Bureau Chief of Pakistan's Geo News TV (Geo Television Network), The News International (English newspaper) and Daily Jang (Urdu newspaper). He was arrested by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the state Police on Thursday, 20 March 2008 in Ohio, USA, on alleged teen sex crimes charges. Since he crossed state border, he has been charged with a Federal crime. He remains under detention in an Ohio jail since March 2008 pending court hearing. He has been refused bail, he said.
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"It is possible that this latest development may suggest that the prosecution’s case against him– crossing state lines with the intention of committing a felony involving an underage female – is weak, said one observer."
ReplyDeleteMay I ask who this "observer" is? This is a weak argument and does not make any sense.
Mr. Anonymous
ReplyDeleteWhat you call a weak argument you do not need an observer for.
You be the observer & tell us why a well seasoned Journalist has to go through psychiatric evaluation just to deprive him his rights to defend himself--What they are afraid of.