Pakistani officials have overturned the prison sentence of Dr Shakil Afridi; a man closely linked to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)’s tracking down of Osama bin Laden’s location.
Afridi was facing a 33-year prison sentence for treason that was unrelated to the Osama incident, but a retrial is now in motion.
Dr Shakil Afridi had helped the CIA launch a fake vaccination campaign in Abbottabad to secure DNA samples and ascertain Osama bin Laden’s presence in the city.
Soon after that, the US sent in a team of Navy SEALs to take out the Al Qaeda chief.
According to preliminary reports, the doctor knew “that he was working against Pakistan”.
However, instead of being charged with colluding with a foreign intelligence agency, Afridi was tried under Frontier Crimes Regulations and sentenced to prison for maintaining close links with a militant organization – the banned militant outfit
Lashkar-i-Islam.
Pakistani officials, citing technical grounds, overturned Dr Shakil Afridi’s 33-year jail sentence and Afridi’s retrial is likely to take place soon.
Some political observers said this latest development might be due to intense American pressure on Islamabad to release the doctor, who is widely viewed as a hero in the United States. Others claim the turn of events is linked to another case involving Dr Aafia Siddiqui – a Pakistani neuroscientist who has been sentenced by a US court to an 86-year jail sentence on terrorism charges.
Officials in Islamabad are keen to bring Dr Aafia Siddiqui home and may even be willing to exchange Afridi for her.
Observers believe the exchange may take place under a Council of European Convention on the transfer of prisoners. A convention, media reports said, that Pakistan intends to sign. However, experts believe otherwise.
