A Pakistani court imposed a 33-year sentence Wednesday on a doctor who assisted the CIA in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, prompting dismay among U.S. officials and warnings that the punishment will exacerbate strained relations and could lead to cuts in aid.
Shakil Afridi, 48, a government surgeon in the semiautonomous Khyber Agency along the border with Afghanistan, was convicted of treason for using a vaccination drive to try to gather DNA samples from the Abbottabad compound where bin Laden was in hiding.
A Pakistani government commission tasked with reviewing intelligence failures related to the Abbottabad raid had recommended that Afridi be tried for treason. The government has fired 17 other health workers who assisted in the vaccination program.So the Pakistani guy who tried to help catch bin Laden is in jail, but the Pakistani guy who helped Libya try to get the bomb, and may have done the same for Iran and North Korea, is free.
Glad to see our billions spent every year on Pakistan are going to good use.
