Dr Shakil Afridi handed over 33 years in prison

Dr Shakil Afridi handed over 33 years in prison

Peshawar: (Wednesday, May 23, 2012) Dr Shakil Afridi, a government surgeon and the key informant to the CIA in Usama Bin Laden’s arrest and killing operation has been handed over 33 years in jail for treason charges.

Afridi, who had been under trial for the same charges and was sacked as government doctor two months ago, was found guilty in a detailed tribal judicial investigation in province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In addition to the imprisonment, Afridi will also have to pay a fine of Rs 320,000. Afridi has worked for years in the security challenged province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, particularly in the areas heavily infiltrated by the Taliban
and al Qaeda.

Since the tribal judicial system is completely different to that of conventional judicial system, Afridi was not given a chance to defend himself, said the officials. Under the tribal system, he was not liable to hire a lawyer.

Sharing details of the punishment served to Dr Afridi, Mohammad Siddiq, the spokesman for the administrative head of Khyber said, “He has been sentenced for 33 years on treason charges and has been moved to Peshawar central jail
after the verdict was announced by the local court.”

Afridi’s trial that continued for several days took place under assistant political agent Nasir Khan in Khyber. The verdict was confirmed by his immediate boss, the political agent, in the northwestern city of Peshawar today. Pakistan’s
tribal judicial system grants Afridi the right to appeal.

The critics to the decision argue that Afridi should not be trialed under the tribal law for an alleged crime that took place outside the system’s jurisdiction.

According to the sources, he has been sentenced under penal code clauses related to offences against the state, conspiracy or attempt to wage war against Pakistan, concealing with intent designs to wage war against the state and
on charges of working against the country’s sovereignty.

In January, Leon Panetta, the Defense Secretary of the US confirmed that Afridi had assisted the US intelligence by collecting DNA to verify Bin Laden’s presence and also expressed concerns over Pakistan’s treatment of him.

Besides Dr Afridi, seventeen other health officials, who also took part in the same fake vaccination programme set up by the CIA in a bid to confirm the al Qaeda was living in Abbottabad, have already been sacked from their posts.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=23175

Posted by Fayyaz Yaseen on May 23 2012. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry