Pakistan orders new trial for doctor who helped find bin Laden

Reuters:
A Pakistani judicial official on Thursday overturned the 33-year jail sentence passed on Shakil Afridi, the doctor who helped CIA agents hunting for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden who was killed in 2011.

U.S. officials have hailed Afridi as a hero for helping pinpoint bin Laden's location before the secret May 2011 raid by U.S. special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan, after more than a decade of searching.

Judicial official Sahibzada Mohammad Anees ordered a new trial on the grounds that another official had exceeded his authority when handing down last year's sentence. Afridi remains in custody.

"The assistant political agent ... did not have the authority to award 33 years' imprisonment to Dr. Shakil Afridi," said the written judgment. "The assistant political agent played the role of a magistrate for which he was not authorized."

A political agent and his assistant are representatives of the Pakistani government in the tribal areas, which are not covered by the country's judicial system.

Afridi's sentence further damaged ties between Pakistan and the United States when they had already strained over the bin Laden raid. Angry U.S. senators symbolically withheld $33 million in aid from Pakistan in retaliation.

Relations since then have slowly improved but there remains plenty of residual distrust on both sides.

Lawyer Samiullah Afridi said Afridi plans to submit an application for an early hearing.
...
The government should decline to further prosecute the man and order his release.  The charges make no sense.  Pakistan needs to accept the fact that it screwed up by allowing bin Laden to live so openly in its country, and they should praise this guy for helping to find  the world's most wanted man.

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