A group of Congressmen here has sought US citizenship for jailed Pakistani doctor Shakeel Afridi, who helped CIA track down killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden last year.
A Congressional legislation has been introduced in the US House of Representatives seeking the citizenship for the doctor, who is currently in a Pakistani jail for “treason”.
“Today I have introduced legislation to grant American citizenship to Dr Shakeel Afridi, the Pakistani medical doctor who risked his life to identify Osama Bin Laden and help US military forces bring him to justice,” Congressman Dana Rohrabacher said yesterday.
“If convicted, he could be executed,” the lawmaker from California pointed out.
“The bill would grant him US citizenship and send a direct and powerful message to those in the Pakistani government
and military who protected the mastermind of 9/11 and are now seeking retribution on those who helped execute Bin Laden,” Rohrabacher said in the House of Representatives.
The Afridi citizenship bill has been endorsed by more than a dozen top Congressmen including Bill Posey, Ted Poe and Roscoe Bartlett.