A Pakistani Doctor, Shakil Afridi, who allegedly helped the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States of America to get information about Al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, has received a reduction of 10 years from his 33 years jail term.
A judicial official, Commissioner Frontier Crimes Regulation, Munir Azam, on Saturday announced the new verdict and also cut the doctor’s penalty by 100,000 rupees from over 300,000.
It will be recalled that in 2012, a tribal court had awarded 33 years jail term to Shakil Afridi for alleged colluding with a banned militant group “Lashkar-i-Islam.”
The tribal court had not entertained evidence relating to Afridi’s involvement with the CIA, citing lack of jurisdiction.
It was strongly believed that the punishment was for his role in the episode of the al-Qaeda chief.
Meanwhile, Afridi’s lawyers said they would file appeal against the new verdict, as they want the whole jail term to be declared null and void.
Angry at the jail term, some American lawmakers saw the sentence as retaliation for his role in bin Laden’s capture and had threatened to freeze millions of dollars in vital aid to Islamabad.
He was suspected of running a fake vaccination campaign to get DNA sample of Osama bin Laden, killed by the US military in the Pakistani city of Abbotabad in May 2011.
But the then US Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta, had confirmed Afridi had worked for US intelligence by collecting DNA to verify bin Laden’s presence.
However, lawyers and family had rejected his links with the banned group and had filed an appeal against his conviction.
The appeal stated that Afridi was kidnapped by “Lashkar-e-Islam” in 2008 and ordered to pay one million rupees.
In August 2013, a judicial official overturned the 33-year jail sentence against Shakil Afridi and ruled that the previous judge in the case exceeded his authority when giving the sentence and ordered a new trial.
Xinhua/NAN.
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