Prison Term for Helping C.I.A. Find Bin Laden

[dkf]

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A Pakistani doctor who helped the Central Intelligence Agency pin down Osama bin Laden’s location under the cover of a vaccination drive was convicted on Wednesday of treason and sentenced to 33 years in prison, a senior official in Pakistan said.

A tribal court here in northwestern Pakistan found the doctor, Dr. Shakil Afridi, guilty of acting against the state, said Mutahir Zeb Khan, the administrator for the Khyber tribal region. Along with the prison term, the court imposed a fine of $3,500. Dr. Afridi, who may appeal the verdict, was then sent to Central Prison in Peshawar.

He had been charged under a British-era regulation for frontier crimes that, unlike the national criminal code, does not carry the death penalty for treason. Under Pakistani penal law, Dr. Afridi almost certainly would have received the death penalty, a Pakistani lawyer said.

Dr. Afridi’s fate has been an added source of tension between Pakistan and the United States, at a time when the countries remain at loggerheads over reopening supply lines through Pakistan to Afghanistan.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/24/world/asia/doctor-who-helped-find-bin-laden-given-jail-term-official-says.html

[Lionessa]

1. "loggerheads over reopening supply lines..." I think it's quite a bit more than that.

Drones killing innocent civilians, the mission itself as well.

Otherwise, as to the prison term, I think the fact it was a tribal court pretty much says it all. If reports are correct, we are not at all liked and are considered occupiers and imperialists by many of the tribal communities in that area of Pakistan, if not all over.

[JDPriestly]

2. Pakistan is not our ally. It isn't even our friend.

Pakistan is a hotbed of extremism.

Seems to me Pakistan is the real problem. I don't understand what is going on in our government with regard to this.

I don't have any grudge against the ordinary people of Pakistan, but the government and the extremists????? Why do we tiptoe around them. Is it because they have nuclear weapons? Or is it their close relationship with leaders of countries whose oil or friendship we really do need?

This is crazy.

[Amonester]

3. They might be doing this to try to appease the real extremists who...

are still plenty over there, even in the military (or especially in the military).

Political positions over there are sitting on highly sensible ejectable seats.

[razorman]

4. If we do nothing to help this doctor now, then we have no honor.

Also, others will be reluctant to help us in the future, and justifiably so. We seem to have thrown him to the wolves. Pakistan is NOT our friend.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

5. I saw this.

Moderate Muslims here in the states are pissed. Apparently one of Bin Laden's helpers has been hailed a hero in Pakistan. Something is definitely wrong there.