Pakistani doctor who helped find Bin Laden gets 33 years in prison

[Afghanistan2010]

Righteousness without wisedome is useless. Why did he release the information without securing his own protection first??

Agreed upon,how stupid he is.

A good way,bring him in a nice car,to Landi Kotel and leave him on the street, or Quetta,the mob will take care of him.

[JattApache]

Agreed upon,how stupid he is.

A good way,bring him in a nice car,to Landi Kotel and leave him on the street, or Quetta,the mob will take care of him.

You support Bin laden? He was the responsible of so many deaths of civillians!

[JattApache]

Poor doctor, he was sentenced 33years in prison because he was convicted to " treason ".
He is totally innocent, he just decided to contact CIA first, what was wrong ?
I'm sorry to say that, but Luffy, HaviZsultan, Talal, Karachi, your pakistan is a dictatorship, and i'm not anti-pakistani like Admin-Khan.
How can you defend this decision ???? !

[haviZsultan]

Poor doctor, he was sentenced 33years in prison because he was convicted to " treason ".
He is totally innocent, he just decided to contact CIA first, what was wrong ?
I'm sorry to say that, but Luffy, HaviZsultan, Talal, Karachi, your pakistan is a dictatorship, and i'm not anti-pakistani like Admin-Khan.
How can you defend this decision ???? !

He was actively working for the CIA.

We've always wanted the CIA OUT of Pakistan because we don't know what they are doing. Raymond Davis killed 2 Pakistanis in broad daylight.

I stand by this decision. I am glad Laden is dead... but the honor and dignity if we had killed him would have been great.

[Michin Khel]

Poor doctor, he was sentenced 33years in prison because he was convicted to " treason ".
He is totally innocent, he just decided to contact CIA first, what was wrong ?
I'm sorry to say that, but Luffy, HaviZsultan, Talal, Karachi, your pakistan is a dictatorship, and i'm not anti-pakistani like Admin-Khan.
How can you defend this decision ???? !

You are not anti-pakistan like admin khan and you are an indian and you are having conversation in pashto on your wall. And like wazir warrior you are tagging all pro-pakistanis togather in the post despite the fact that each one gave different opinions about the issue. Such kia he?

@topic
It was not a shocking news. People are neither emotional about doctor, nor are they cheering for the decision. It was decision necessary for pakistan to cover up its embarrassement that they faced. It is now permenant part of world History that osama was hiding in abbotabad, hub of pak military. They could'nt do any thing about the humiliation at the hand of americans so afridi is target of their wrath. By the way afridi lucky, he is alive because america is taking stand on him.
Was afridi a hero? Yes from international point of view, no from pakistani point of view. If he was unaware of what he was doing , then i feel sorry for him and his family. If he was aware of the details and did it for some dollers then he violated the moral code of doctors, and i as person of his field can not have sympathy for him.

[Toramana]

Dr. Shakeel Afridi, who allegedly helped US to confirm presence of Al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistani military town Abbottabad was sent to Peshawar prison after a four-member tribal court convicted him for conspiring against State.

A medical doctor by profession, Dr. Afridi was charged with high treason. Unlike Pakistan’s penal code, punishment for high treason is not death under tribal justice system. Thus, Dr. Afridi will spend 30 years in jail and is fined 3500 USD. If he doesn’t pay the fine, he will spend three more years in prison. It means hecould spend 33 years in jail.

The aspect of human rights and ‘fair trial’ as given in Pakistani constitution has been neglected throughout this unilateral procedure as on the day of conviction even Dr. Afridi was not present in the court. And it doesn't make sense as well because Pakistani constitution as a whole doesn't apply to people from tribal areas.

On the other hand, such verdict by court is isolating Pakistan from a partially globalised, interconnected and deeply interdependent international political system. Also, it raises more questions on Pakistan’s already suspicious behaviour in war against global terrorism.

Various nationalist political parties’ leaders and analysts in Pakistan have been asking this question frequently whether it was really treason or a conspiracy against the State if someone has helped US to find, locate and confirm presence of world’s most wanted terrorist who was responsible for the killings of hundreds of innocent men, women and children around the world.

If assisting international alliance against terror is conspiring against the State then Pakistani authorities should also be charged similarly as they 'confess' strong cooperation with the US led alliance for last 11 years. In other words, Pakistani State apparatus itself is conspiring against the State.

One important point is worth mentioning. Dr. Afridi was never given a chance to publicly state if he was really helping CIA when a vaccination campaign was underway in Abbottabad. In such situation charging and convicting some person means that tribal court wanted contentment and gratification of ‘princes’ in the General Headquarters of Rawalpindi. Such verdict exposes extreme irrationality of the ‘rational State’ and raises questions on its ‘national interest(s)’.

For instance, isn’t it proved now that some giants (or even the entire establishment) of the State were in cahoots with Al Qaida or on 'sheltering' bin Laden? If it is true, and suppose it is, then this action of tribal court defines the national interest of the State as well and is thus justified. This can then result in accountablity and isolation of Pakistan on global scale.

But Pakistan insists that it is not providing sanctuary to any globally recognized terrorist. If it is true then why Dr. Afridi should be convicted? Isn’t it the case then that Dr. Afridi’s acts were in fact harming operations of what Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa calls the ‘MILBUS’ of Pakistani army?

It is true that US has been pouring billions of dollars into Pakistan for last 11 years for ‘cooperating’ in war against terrorism and large part of that aid goes to military. So was it the case that by providing bin Laden shelter in Abbottabad, military wanted to earn as much as it can by simply lengthening the war in Afghanistan and parts of Pashtun land in Pakistan? Now, isn’t it an act of conspiring against the world then? And what can be possible punishment for masterminds behind this plot?


Osama bin Laden was killed on May 02, 2011 (Source: DAWN's Website)
Apart from that, ever since bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, support for war in Afghanistan in the west has been constantly plummeting and the backbone of Al Qaida has been broken in the region. It means that Af-Pak will stabilize and people living there will move forward towards a better and peaceful life. Dr. Afridi in this case should be honoured with awards instead for his patriotic deeds.

It is a fact that Pakistan has never been a liberal democracy. Even the current democratically elected government is not liberal. Almost all political parties in the current government comprise of psychologically illiberal politicians. Almost all of them need consent of the General Headquarters in every step they take; they look at the army when State is in trouble, to put it simply, they are in chains. Pakistani people, on the hand, have been kept hostage for almost six decades; thus, illiberal and imprisoned either with the prevailing inhumane discourse or with an iron fist.

Dr. Afridi’s punishment verdict and similar cases are not only tarnishing Pakistan’s image as a 'viable' State but also will push it to the corner where it will be unable to find friends and will be compelled to act the way international community wants it to act.

Machiavellian princes should know that even if US led coalition leaves the region, their discourse and its consequences will result in catastrophes; and that it is not workable anymore in the contemporary world to deceive the entire human race on the planet with words like 'national interest, sovereignty and territorial integrity'.

http://pamirsahill.blogspot.ca/2012/05/dr-afridis-imprisonment-act-of-treason.html

[Friend]

By the way who allowed him to do that for the usa ? Had he any NOC from the govt of Pakistan for doing that service ?

[Toramana]

WASHINGTON, May 23: US lawmakers warned on Wednesday that Pakistan was moving rapidly on a path leading to a direct confrontation with the world’s sole superpower as Pakistan convicted and sentenced a man considered a hero in America.

On Tuesday, a US Senate panel voted to cut aid to Pakistan by 58 per cent in fiscal 2013 and threatened to withhold even more cash if Islamabad did not reopen Nato supply routes.

“Shocking and outrageous,” said Senators John McCain and Carl Levin — one a senior Republican, the other a senior Democrat — as a tribal court in Pakistan sentenced Dr Shakil Afridi to 33 years in prison for the crime of treason.

The United States saw “no basis” for continuing to hold Dr Afridi, said US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland.

In Tuesday’s vote, senators endorsed the administration’s request for $1 billion for Pakistan, including $800 million in foreign aid. But funding for the Pakistan Counter-insurgency Capability Fund was reduced to just $50 million, and subjected to the reopening of supply lines.

The decision came two days after a Nato summit in Chicago where Pakistan annoyed the United States and its allies by refusing to reopen ground routes for supplying their forces in Afghanistan.

“It is shocking and outrageous that Dr Afridi, the Pakistani doctor who assisted the United States in the search for Osama bin Laden, has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for the crime of treason,” observed Senators McCain and Levin.

“We call upon the Pakistani government to pardon and release Dr Afridi immediately. At a time when the United States and Pakistan need more than ever to work constructively together, Dr Afridi’s continuing imprisonment and treatment as a
criminal will only do further harm to US-Pakistani relations, including diminishing Congress’s willingness to provide financial assistance to Pakistan,” they warned.

State Department’s Victoria Nuland noted at a news briefing in Washington that US secretaries of State and Defence had addressed this issue in the past, pointing out that they saw no basis for holding Dr Afridi in prison.

The United States, she said, had regularly taken up the issue of Dr Afridi with Pakistan, and “will continue to do so”.

http://dawn.com/2012/05/24/us-senators-say-pakistan-on-path-of-confrontation/

[Toramana]

By the way who allowed him to do that for the usa ? Had he any NOC from the govt of Pakistan for doing that service ?

Why should have he done that when the govt of Pakistan and its military were shielding the person that was the cause of the death of so many people and international and regional instability. One should make a sane comment at least.

[Friend]

Why should have he done that when the govt of Pakistan and its military were shielding the person that was the cause of the death of so many people and international and regional stability. One should make a sane comment at least.

Ridiculous ...
It is not a good answer to my question. Again who gave permission to him to do such or he became a rebellion ?

[Toramana]

Ridiculous ...
It is not a good answer to my question. Again who gave permission to him to do such or he became a rebellion ?

Keep your morbid views to yourself---Don't spit it here--If you are to expose a criminal (the Pakistani establishment), you are not to inform him. Yes, from the stand point of the criminal, he is a bad person---for the rest of the world he is a hero.

[Afghanistan2010]

Pakistan is a sl*+t it goes to that guy who pays much,if USA pays good,they will give their ass there,if china,then they will take next chin pong airlines to china.

sorry for these words,but this is how pakistan should be defined in books.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

Very surprised at the lack of analytic power here.

Whos says Afridi has any idea what he was involved in? Where the injustice may lie is that the man very well could have been told that he was involved in something meaningful and involved with his field. No one has heard his testimony or his side of what happened at all.

Does are folks this naive to think that the world's most elite spy organization let their local "affiliate" in on who the high value target was???

And why are people not as mad at Panetta who basically allowed the whole world to hear exactly:
A) How the plan was executed using a local affiliate
B) Giving away Afridi's identity?

I am highly doubtful that this was like a Bond Film where Afridi was their local scientist who knew exactly what was up. It would have risked a repeat of Tora Bora where Afghan tribal affiliates led the high value target to safety. Such a raid with such an outcome would have been catastrophic for their efforts.

What people like Karzai should think about is:
Dheim, Noreiga, Batista Qaddafi, Mubarak, Shah of Iran, Ben Ali, and Afridi (not in same category in the former people as we know nothing about him) who were bussom buddies were treated this way.

[Shah-i-Kot]

It is probably the case that Afridi did not know what he was involved in. An article in the Telegraph confirms this.

The results of Panetta revealing Afridi's identity will have restrictive effects on intelligence gathering from the US perspective, not just within Afghanistan/Pakistan.

I think this is exactly the reason why Afridi has been given such a long sentence. When potential informants see the jail sentence of Afridi, it becomes very difficult for them to consider any opportunities. (This despite the possible fact Afridi had no idea what he was involved in and that it would result in the single most embarrassing event for Pakistan military which has a false pride).

My guess is he was duped into thinking he was taking part in a research initiative, and that the false NGO was saying they wanted every child vaccinated within that area.

Luffy pointed out that he did this for money, but doctors, especially in Pakistan do not work for free (one of the problems with the profession as a whole--- off topic- but several weeks ago a boy from KP was allowed to die in Pakistan because his family did not have the money to pay the hospital for his treatment).

[badmash_khel]

I feel sorry for the guy and his family. I hope he is released soon.
The stupid hypocrite pakistani government called Bin Laden a terrorist on one hand but jails the guy who helped kill him. 0.o What kind of hypocracy is this?