Pakistan's problematic relationship with the US plunged to new depths as Senators warned of aid cuts after the jailing of the surgeon who helped the CIA hunt down Osama bin Laden.
Shakeel Afridi was found guilty of treason, sentenced to 33 years in prison and fined 320,000 rupees (£2,200) under an archaic tribal justice system that has governed Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt since British rule. Afridi was not entitled to a lawyer but was given a chance to defend himself and has a right to appeal the verdict, officials said.
| Gosh, all those brave Pakistani supreme court justices and Afridi didn't even have a mouthpiece? |
Critics said he should not have been tried under tribal law for an alleged crime that took place outside the tribal belt, in the town of Abbottabad where he ran a fake vaccination programme designed to collect bin Laden family DNA.
| Ooooh that's clever! Thanks MSM for outing the news... |
The US government said Pakistan had no basis to hold Afridi, who is reportedly in poor health and being kept away from other prisoners to avoid any danger to his life.
| Time to stage another rescue mission. And offer sanctuary to Afridi and his family... |
"Anyone who supported the United States in finding Osama bin Laden was not working against Pakistan, they were working against al-Qaeda," Pentagon press secretary George Little said. |