FILE: A Pakistani judicial official overturns a 33-year sentence of CIA-linked doctor who helped find Osama bin Laden and orders a new trial

Record ID: 862573

  • Title: FILE: A Pakistani judicial official overturns a 33-year sentence of CIA-linked doctor who helped find Osama bin Laden and orders a new trial
  • Date: 29th August 2013
  • Summary: PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN (FILE - MAY 2012) (REUTERS) TRAFFIC ON ROAD OUTSIDE CENTRAL PESHAWAR PRISON WHERE AFRIDI IS BEING HELD EXTERIOR OF PRISON WALL, PRISON VISIBLE IN BACKGROUND SIGN ON WALL READING "CENTRAL JAIL PESHAWAR" VARIOUS OF POLICEMEN SITTING ON WATCH TOWERS TWO MEN LEAVING PRISON
  • Embargoed: 13th September 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • City:
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAACMSTHXPLX7E9ITFL3IC0JF9N
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: A Pakistani judicial official on Thursday (August 29) overturned the 33-year jail sentence passed on Shakil Afridi, the doctor who helped CIA agents hunting for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden who was killed in 2011.
    U.S. officials have hailed Afridi as a hero for helping pinpoint bin Laden's location before the secret May 2011 raid by U.S. 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 statement. "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. Angry U.S. senators symbolically withheld $33 million 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 believed to have helped the American intelligence agency track down bin Laden.
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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