Pakistan jails doctor who helped CIA find Bin Laden for 30 years

A Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA find Osama Bin Laden has been jailed for at least 30 years, officials say.

Shakil Afridi was charged with treason for running a fake vaccination programme to gather information.

The US secretary of state Hillary Clinton had called for his release on the grounds that his work served Pakistani and American interests.

Bin Laden was killed by US forces in the north-western city of Abbottabad in May 2011.

The killing triggered a rift between the US and Pakistan, whose government was seriously embarrassed to find Bin Laden had been living in Pakistan.

Islamabad felt the covert US operation was a violation of its sovereignty.

Shortly after the raid on Bin Laden's house, Dr Afridi was arrested for conspiring against the state of Pakistan.

Pakistan has insisted that any country would have done the same if it found one of its citizens working for a foreign spy agency.

Dr Afridi has been found guilty under the tribal justice system in Khyber district, and has also been fined $3,500.

If he does not pay the fine his prison sentence will be extended by a further three years.

Dr Afridi was not present in court so was unable to give his side of the story.

Mistake?
The BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad says that many outside observers are concerned that most of the people detained since Bin Laden's killing have been those who were trying to help capture him, rather than those who helped shield him.

It is not clear if Dr Afridi knew who the target of the investigation was when the CIA recruited him, or what DNA he managed to collect in the fake hepatitis B vaccination programme.

The idea was to obtain a blood sample from one of the children living in the Abbottabad compound, so that DNA tests could determine whether or not they were relatives of Bin Laden, our correspondent says.

US Defense secretary Leon Panetta confirmed in January that Dr Afridi collected samples for the US and he spoke to the CBS television programme "60 minutes" about the case.

He said Dr Afridi "was not in any way treasonous towards Pakistan... for them to take this kind of action against somebody who was helping to go after terrorism, I just think is a real mistake on their part".

Dr Afridi has been found guilty under the tribal justice system in Khyber district, and has also been fined $3,500.

If he does not pay the fine his prison sentence will be extended by a further three years.

Dr Afridi was not present in court so was unable to give his side of the story.

Nishank wrote:US are stupid fools ffs, fcking sponsor Pak so that they can keep our men in uniform for stupid reasons.

RedOranje wrote:No, it really doesn't.  The US gains nothing significant from instability in the region

RedOranje wrote:Except that you're basing your entire analysis on some rather extraordinary assumptions and basic biases, not the least of which being that the US gains more from arms sale than it loses through other trade and energy

and that the US is only party that matters and/or has the ability to influence the situation.

Betty La Fea wrote:Doctor stepped out of bounds with this. Will make it harder for religious people to trust vaccinations which are needed now.

Le Samourai wrote:Would the World be better off with one big, united Islamic superpower?

El Chelsea Fuerte wrote:

Le Samourai wrote:Would the World be better off with one big, united Islamic superpower?

No it would be just as worse

But what does that have to do with this   

El Chelsea Fuerte wrote:

Betty La Fea wrote:Doctor stepped out of bounds with this. Will make it harder for religious people to trust vaccinations which are needed now.

Why religious people in particular? If you aren't a terrorist, the USA probably doesn't want to kill you and thus you don't have to fear giving anything away as a result of vaccination.