Mohammad Rauf—AFP
Legal counsel for doctor who helped find Osama bin Laden says he will contest the decision in FCR Tribunal and demand retrial.
The Pakistani doctor who was arrested after helping the CIA track down Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has had both his sentence and fine reduced—by 10 years and Rs. 100,000, respectively.
Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) Commissioner Captain (retd.) Muneer Azam gave Dr. Shakeel Afridi the reprieve. Afridi is now required to serve 23 years in jail and pay a fine of Rs. 230,000.
Rejecting the ruling, Afridi’s lawyer told Newsweek he would challenge in the verdict in the FCR Tribunal. “This was an unexpected and inhuman decision,” said lawyer Samiullah Afridi. “We are going to challenge the decision in FCR Tribunal,” he added.
In 2012, the court of the assistant political agent in Bara sentenced Dr. Afridi to 33 years imprisonment and fined him Rs. 320,000 on charges of conspiring with the extremist Lashkar-e-Islam and its leader, Mangal Bagh. The sentence was overturned in August 2013 and a retrial was ordered.
“It appears as if someone has dictated the decision to the Peshawar commissioner,” said Jamil Afridi, brother of Dr. Afridi. “The commissioner’s court is supposed to be administrative in nature, not judicial,” he added.
“We did not request a reduction in punishment because we wanted a retrial,” said Jamil Afridi. “It is obvious the government only wants Dr. Afridi to rot in jail.”