Pakistan retrial for doctor who helped find bin Laden
TV frame grab from Aaj News on May 24, 2012 shows Shakeel Afridi (Aaj News/AFP/File)The Pakistani doctor jailed for 33 years after helping the CIA find Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had his sentence overturned on Thursday and faces a retrial, officials said.
US officials have hailed Afridi as a hero for helping pinpoint Bin Laden\’s location before the secret May 2011 raid by US special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan, after more than a decade of searching.
Judicial official Sahibzada Mohammad Anees ordered a new trial on the grounds that another official had exceeded his authority when handing down last year\’s sentence. Afridi remains in custody.
"The assistant political agent… did not have the authority to award 33 years\’ imprisonment to Dr Shakil Afridi," said the written judgement. "The assistant political agent played the role of a magistrate for which he was not authorised."
A political agent and his assistant are representatives of the Pakistani government in the tribal areas, which are not covered by the country\’s judicial system.
Afridi\’s sentence further damaged ties between Pakistan and the United States when they had already strained over the Bin Laden raid. US senators symbolically withheld $33m in aid from Pakistan in retaliation.
Relations since then have slowly improved but there remains plenty of residual distrust on both sides.
Lawyer Samiullah Afridi said Afridi plans to submit an application for an early hearing.
Afridi was accused of running a fake vaccination campaign, in which he collected DNA samples, that is believed to have helped the American intelligence agency track down Bin Laden.
Pakistani officials initially said Afridi would be tried for treason for helping the US, but court documents showed he was jailed for being a member of Lashkar-e-Islam.
Afridi denied the charges and a spokesman for the group said they had no ties with him.
Source: Agencies
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