Pakistani Jailed For U.S. Aid in OBL Raid

[High_Gravity]

Pakistani Jailed For U.S. Aid in OBL Raid

(PESHAWAR, Pakistan) — A Pakistani doctor who helped the U.S. track down Osama bin Laden was convicted of high treason Wednesday and sentenced to 33 years in prison, officials said, a verdict that is likely to further strain the country's relationship with Washington.

Shakil Afridi ran a vaccination program for the CIA to collect DNA and verify bin Laden's presence at the compound in the town of Abbottabad where U.S. commandos killed the al-Qaida chief last May. The operation outraged Pakistani officials because they were not told about it beforehand.

Senior U.S. officials have called for Afridi to be released, saying his work served Pakistani and American interests. His conviction comes at a sensitive time because the U.S. is already frustrated by Pakistan's refusal to reopen NATO supply routes to Afghanistan. The supply routes were closed six months ago in retaliation for American airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

Afridi also was ordered to pay a fine of about $3,500 and will spend an additional three and half years in prison if he does not, said Nasir Khan, a government official in the Khyber tribal area, where the doctor was arrested and tried.

Read more: Pakistani Jailed For U.S. Aid in OBL Raid - TIME

 

[RoadVirus]

And why wasn't this guy bailed out and given asylum or whatever?

 

[High_Gravity]

And why wasn't this guy bailed out and given asylum or whatever?

I have no idea.

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat oughta make `em sit up an take notice Obama means business...

Outraged US cuts aid to Pakistan over surgeon's conviction
Friday 25th May, 2012 WASHINGTON - Outraged over a Pakistani court's decision to imprison a surgeon for helping track Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, the United States has decided to cut aid to Islamabad by $33 million.

This means $1 million for each year of Shakeel Afridi in prison after he was convicted of high treason by a four-member tribal court in the semi autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and sentenced to 33 years in jail was. "It's arbitrary, but the hope is that Pakistan will realise we are serious," said Senator Richard Durbin after the unanimous 30-0 vote by the Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday. "It's outrageous that they (the Pakistanis) would say a man who helped us find Osama bin Laden is a traitor."

The Senate Armed Services Committee also passed a measure that could lead to even deeper cuts in aid. The panel decided to limit the availability of the $1.75 billion Coalition Support Fund (CSF) unless the Defence Secretary certifies that Afridi has not been imprisoned. Top Republican Senator on the Armed Services Committee John McCain said lawmakers have agreed to withhold military aid for Pakistan. "All of us are outraged at the imprisonment and sentencing of some 33 years virtually a death sentence to the doctor in Pakistan who was instrumental ... in the removal of Osama bin Laden."

The latest decision by the key Senate panel represents about four per cent of the $800 million set aside for Pakistan for the year 2013 including $250 million in foreign military aid and another $50 million for Pakistan's counterinsurgency efforts. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the jailing of the doctor "unjust and unwarranted" and vowed to continue to press the case with Islamabad. "We regret both the fact that he was convicted and the severity of his sentence We are raising it and we will continue to do so because we think that his treatment is unjust and unwarranted."

Afridi ran a vaccination programme for the CIA to collect DNA and verify Bin Laden's presence at the compound in the town of Abbottabad where US Navy SEALS killed the Al Qaida chief May 2, 2011. The secret CIA operation outraged Pakistani officials. Afridi was arrested by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) two weeks after the Al Qaeda leader's death.

Source

 

[Sunni Man]

Just tying up loose ends.

Osama allegedly fed to sharks.

Seal Team terminally silenced

Informant buried in dungeon.

All neat and clean.

 

[TheGreatGatsby]

^^^

Osama is dead. No govt. official wants to lose their phony bologna job when the news of that come out. I like the conspiracy theory though.

 

[Katzndogz]

And why wasn't this guy bailed out and given asylum or whatever?

I have no idea.

Until obama dropped a dime on him, he was still a valuable informant. Just like the CIA double agent who infiltrated the bomb making operations. He was still working, until the white house leaked who he was and what he was doing.

 

[Salt Jones]

What would America do to a citizen that helped capture and deport one of the Bush Administration members who were convicted of war crimes by the Malaysian War Crimes Tribunal?

"In what is the first ever conviction of its kind anywhere in the world, the former US President and seven key members of his administration were yesterday (Fri) found guilty of war crimes.
Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and their legal advisers Alberto Gonzales, David Addington, William Haynes, Jay Bybee and John Yoo were tried in absentia in Malaysia."

Bush Convicted of War Crimes in Absentia | Foreign Policy Journal

 

[TheGreatGatsby]

I love reading SJ posts. It's like watching a cartoon. I think his girlfriend is Julia.

 

[waltky]

Obama needs to send ol' Jesse Jackson over there with his straight-razor...

Conviction of Pakistani doctor threatens US ties with Pakistan
May 25th, 2012 - The conviction of a Pakistani doctor who tried to help the CIA locate the hiding place of Osama bin Laden is further exacerbating tensions between Washington and Islamabad and could affect U.S. ability to negotiate a deal with Pakistan over re-opening NATO supply lines, senior U.S. officials told CNN.

Dr. Shakil Afridi on Wednesday was convicted of treason for having assisted the United States in trying to uncover the location of the terror leader last year under the guise of a vaccination campaign in Abbottabad, Pakistan. He was sentenced to 33 years by a tribal court in northwestern Pakistan, and sent to prison in Peshawar following the ruling. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta have both spoken of their concern for Afridi, and have called for his release. Clinton said Thursday that the United States "does not believe there is any basis for holding Dr. Afridi."

"His help, after all, was instrumental in taking down one of the world's most notorious murderers." "This action by Dr. Afridi helped to bring about the end of the reign of terror - designed and executed by bin Laden - (and) was not in anyway a betrayal of Pakistan. ... We will continue to press it with the government of Pakistan." Senior U.S. officials said Afridi worked with the United States prior to the bin Laden raid, but was never asked to spy on Pakistan and was only asked to help locate al-Qaeda terrorists posing a threat to both Pakistan and the United States. "Over the course of his several years of service, Dr. Afridi was able to provide valuable information on al Qaeda in the FATA, the group's safe-haven," a senior U.S. official with knowledge of Afridi's activities in Pakistan told CNN. "Dr. Afridi was inadvertently able to confirm something we already suspected - that bin Laden's couriers practiced extraordinary operational security. Was that a key to the raid? No. Was it important? Absolutely."

Another senior U.S. official with knowledge of counterterrorism operations against al Qaeda in Pakistan told CNN that Afridi "helped save Pakistani and American lives. His activities were not treasonous, they were heroic and patriotic." Afridi's conviction adds to an already-damaged and fractured relationship between the United States and Pakistan. Relations between the two countries essentially froze last November following the accidental killing of Pakistani soldiers in a NATO airstrike. Pakistan in turn closed supply lines into Afghanistan that NATO used to support the war effort. Senior administration officials pointed to Clinton's statement about the ruling, which she made unprompted by any questions from journalists, as evidence of the seriousness with which the U.S. takes the issue.

Senior State Department officials have pointed to her remarks and reinforced her message in subsequent calls with Pakistani officials, the senior administration officials said. "We are saying exactly along the lines of what she said," one senior official said. "We tell the Pakistanis they have agreed bin Laden should not have been in their country and we could easily argue that they should have been helping us get him. This case colors the attitude of the U.S. government, but also of the U.S. Congress at budget time." Congressional outrage was in full force Thursday as the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to cut $33 million from the military aid package to Pakistan. The figure derived from Afridi's 33-year sentence.

MORE

 

[Katzndogz]

The doctor would never have been imprisoned if obama hadn't dropped a dime on him and told the Pakistani's who he was and what he did.

 

[adeel_sami]

Pakistani Jailed For U.S. Aid in OBL Raid

(PESHAWAR, Pakistan) — A Pakistani doctor who helped the U.S. track down Osama bin Laden was convicted of high treason Wednesday and sentenced to 33 years in prison, officials said, a verdict that is likely to further strain the country's relationship with Washington.

Shakil Afridi ran a vaccination program for the CIA to collect DNA and verify bin Laden's presence at the compound in the town of Abbottabad where U.S. commandos killed the al-Qaida chief last May. The operation outraged Pakistani officials because they were not told about it beforehand.

Senior U.S. officials have called for Afridi to be released, saying his work served Pakistani and American interests. His conviction comes at a sensitive time because the U.S. is already frustrated by Pakistan's refusal to reopen NATO supply routes to Afghanistan. The supply routes were closed six months ago in retaliation for American airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

Afridi also was ordered to pay a fine of about $3,500 and will spend an additional three and half years in prison if he does not, said Nasir Khan, a government official in the Khyber tribal area, where the doctor was arrested and tried.

Read more: Pakistani Jailed For U.S. Aid in OBL Raid - TIME

Yes, because Shakil earned the money by tracing OBL whilst Pakistan's Govt. couldn't that's why they put Shakil in prison. You pay to this govt. and they will make everything so real and legit for you

 

[Franticfrank]

The US have an obligation to get him out/bail him out somehow. I'm sure the Pakistani's would happily accept some cash but somehow, I fear he'll be forgotten

 

[tjvh]

What would America do to a citizen that helped capture and deport one of the Bush Administration members who were convicted of war crimes by the Malaysian War Crimes Tribunal?

"In what is the first ever conviction of its kind anywhere in the world, the former US President and seven key members of his administration were yesterday (Fri) found guilty of war crimes.
Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and their legal advisers Alberto Gonzales, David Addington, William Haynes, Jay Bybee and John Yoo were tried in absentia in Malaysia."

Bush Convicted of War Crimes in Absentia | Foreign Policy Journal

Why don't YOU try to capture and deport one of those guys, and let us know how it works out for you. Thanks for the laugh!!!!!