General

Doctor who helped locate Osama bin Laden jailed for treason in Pakistan

A doctor accused of helping the U.S. track down and kill Osama bin Laden has been jailed for 33 years in Pakistan after he was deemed guilty of treason. Shakil Afridi allegedly ran a fake vaccination clinic that helped American agents find bin Laden.

The sentence—which includes a US$3,500 fine—is likely to add strain to an already frayed bilateral relationship between Pakistan and the U.S., Reuters reports. NATO is attempting to negotiation to re-opening of vital supply routes to Afghanistan, which have been blocked by Pakistan. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made public appeals to Pakistan for Afridi’s release, the Associated Press reports.

After the American raid of bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound in May 2011, intelligence ties between the two countries were scaled back. As the New York Times reports, Afridi’s clinic, which was set up as a hepatitis B vaccination program, was a intelligence ploy to test the DNA of bin Laden family members in the area. Officials say Afridi didn’t know he was searching for bin Laden, the newspaper reports.

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