Shakil Afridi, the ‘Bin Laden’ doctor, charged with murder in Pakistan
A man reads newspapers bearing photographs of Pakistani Dr. Shakil Afridi, recruited by the CIA to help find Osama bin Laden, at a newsstand in Karachi on May 25, 2012.
Called a hero in the United States, Dr. Shakil Afridi faces condemnation in sections of his homeland for his role in Osama bin Laden’s death and was on Friday charged with murder.
Pakistani authorities say a woman complained the doctor was underqualified to treat her son’s appendicitis in 2005.
“A woman blamed Afridi for the death of her son,” a Pakistani official told Reuters. “She stated that he operated on her son at a hospital in Khyber Agency even though he was not a surgeon, and that caused (her son’s) death.”
Afridi was sentenced to 33 years in prison for his connection to militants, BBC reported.
A court overturned his sentence in August and ordered a retrial due to “procedural errors,” according to BBC.
Bin Laden’s death embarrassed Pakistan because the Al Qaeda leader was living just steps from a military compound.
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The government there was said to be furious American Navy Seals used the cover of darkness to execute their midnight raid on his hideaway in Abbottabad.
Saying he was going door-to-door performing vaccinations, Afridi was able to obtain enough DNA evidence for the CIA to proceed with its mission against the compound.
After bin Laden’s May 2011 death, Afridi was accused of aiding militants in Khyber, the Associated Press reported.
He remains in prison despite his retrial, the AP said, and supporters worry these new charges are fabricated to keep him behind bars.
US and Western governments have pushed Pakistan to release the doctor.
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