Pakistan doctor jailed for 'militant links'
2012-05-30 16:02
Peshawar - The Pakistani court that convicted a doctor who helped find Osama
bin Laden jailed him for alleged ties to a warlord and not working for the CIA,
according to the verdict obtained by AFP on Wednesday.
Shakeel Afridi was last week sentenced to 33 years in prison and found
guilty of treason under Pakistan's archaic system of tribal justice.
A copy of the 24 May verdict said evidence that the accused acted "with
other foreign intelligence agencies" could not be taken into account
"for the lack of jurisdiction" in the tribal belt.
Instead, it recommended the evidence "be produced before the relevant
concerned court for further proceedings under the law", raising the
prospect that Afridi could yet face another trial for treason.
Afridi's sentencing was met by anger in the United States where the Senate
Appropriations Committee voted to cut aid to Pakistan by a symbolic $33m.
In January, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta confirmed that Afridi had worked
for US intelligence by collecting DNA to verify bin Laden's presence in the
town of Abbottabad where Navy Seals killed the al-Qaeda leader in May 2011.
Smear campaign
But the court order said Afridi had "close links" to tribal militant
group Lashkar-e-Islam, saying the doctor's "love" for the group's
leader Mangal Bagh "and association with him was an open secret".
It said the accused provided $22 000 to Lashkar-e-Islam and helped to
provide medical assistance to militant commanders in Khyber.
Officials in Afridi's home district of Khyber refused to elaborate. Mutahir
Zeb Khan, the top administrator, said only: "Reasons given in the
judgement are very clear and that's it."
On Tuesday, doctor Fuwad Khan, director general of health services in the
tribal belt, refuted a smear campaign that Afridi was corrupt and a womaniser.
"There was no complaint against him on the record so no inquiry has
ever been conducted as per the official record," he said.
- SAPA
