KHYBER AGENCY - The political administration of Khyber Agency on Wednesday awarded 33-year jail and a fine of Rs 320,000 to Dr Shakeel Afridi, accused of helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden, on treason charges.
Sources in the Khyber House informed that Dr Shakeel Afridi was produced in the court of Assistance Political Agent (APA) Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency, Nasir Khan where he was handed down 33-year jail under the clauses of Pakistan Penal Code/11 FCR, clauses 121A, 123A, A124.  In addition, Dr Shakeel was also fined Rs 320,000. In case of failure to pay the fine, the convict will have to spend three more years in prison. Sources said the doctor was brought to APA house in tight security and later shifted to Central Prison Peshawar. Last year, Dr Afridi helped American CIA to trace Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden by organising a fake vaccination campaign in Abbottabad Garrison where the Al-Qaeda chief was hiding.
On May 2, 2011, on the information collected through the campaign, the American forces in an operation killed the Al-Qaeda chief.
Dr Afridi had been taken into custody by Pakistan’s intelligence agency and later he was removed from his government post by the FATA health services along with some other colleagues. He had also been kidnapped in 2008 by Lashkar-e-Islam (LI), an insurgent group for his alleged fake surgeries of the patients. Dr Afridi was found guilty under the tribal justice system of FCR and was shifted to Peshawar Central Jail in tight security, the sources said.
Agencies add: “He has been sentenced for 33 years on treason charges and has been moved to Peshawar Central Jail after the verdict was announced by the local court,” said Mohammad Siddiq, spokesman for the administrative head of Khyber.