Afia Sadiki, a Pakistani-born who was educated in his country Tahitar, caused a stir in the United States after she was arrested in Afghanistan and brought under cover of secrecy to the country to stand trial for crimes most of which were not published in the media.
She is now at the center of a storm again when an armed man, apparently her brother Muhammad, abducted at least five worshipers and a rabbi in the city of Cullivil, Texas, not far from the prison where Sadiki is being held, demanding blackmail.
The dramatic development comes after Sadiki's family members, along with supporters from the Muslim community in New York State, staged a protest rally demanding her release in October.
Sadiki's profile, which has earned the unflattering nickname "Lady al-Qaeda", is far from that of an ordinary Islamist terrorist.
A member of an upper-class family in Pakistan, she was diagnosed as gifted at a young age and holds a variety of degrees from prestigious universities in the United States, including a doctorate in neuroscience.
In 1995 she married a matchmaker to an anesthesiologist named Amjad Muhammad Khan.
Khan claimed that after their marriage, Sadiqi began to exaggerate her positions and after the 9/11 attacks demanded that the family leave his country for Pakistan.
Later, Khan claimed, the family moved to the Afghan border in order to volunteer to assist the Taliban in their war in the United States.
The couple divorced after the birth of their third child in 2002 and then, in 2003, Khan disappeared and apparently crossed his back to Afghanistan.
She was arrested by the Afghan police in 2005 and among her belongings were found dangerous substances, manuals on the preparation of chemical weapons and radioactive bombs as well as names of targets in the United States and bases of the United States military in Afghanistan.
Sadiki's name was also linked to a terrorist attack on US forces in eastern Afghanistan.
In August, after a confidential indictment against her was filed in a New York court, Sadiki was extradited to the United States and put on trial.
She was sentenced 86 years after she was convicted of a variety of crimes, apparently related to terrorism.
The clandestine nature of the trial has spawned much public criticism of the sentence.
In October, Sadiki's family and supporters staged a demonstration in New York City calling for her release.
Under the slogan "Release Afia", the demonstrators demanded her extradition to Pakistan, where she is considered to have been perverted due to her religion and nationality.
"Afia Sadiki is a victim of the American war on terror and the American legal system that allows for extradition in secrecy.
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