‘Sham’ Trial: Family of Doc in Bin Laden Hunt Speaks Out
- Posted on May 28, 2012 at 2:36pm by
Becket Adams
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PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP/The Blaze) — The family of the Pakistani doctor sentenced to 33 years in prison for helping the United States track down Osama bin Laden said Monday the man is innocent and dismissed his trial as a sham.
The conviction of Shakil Afridi last week added another pressure point in Pakistan’s already fractured relationship with the U.S. Senior American officials have urged Pakistan to release the doctor, and regard him as a hero who worked to stop the terrorist leader. Islamabad views Afridi as a traitor who colluded with a foreign intelligence agency in an illegal operation on Pakistani soil.
Afridi’s older brother Jamil and two lawyers representing the doctor said at a news conference in the frontier city of Peshawar that they will appeal the verdict, which was handed down last week in a tribal court whose proceedings were never made public.
Jamil Afridi, right, brother of a Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi speaks at
a news conference in Peshawar, Pakistan on Monday, May 28, 2012.
“This was a one-sided decision,” said Jamil. “All allegations against him are false. He didn’t do anything against the national interest.”
Afridi was tried under the Frontier Crimes Regulations, the set of laws that govern Pakistan’s semiautonomous tribal region. The FCR doesn’t allow suspects to have legal representation, present material evidence or cross-examine witnesses. Verdicts are handled by a government official in consultation with a council of elders, instead of by a judge.
The raid by American commandos infuriated Pakistani officials who were not told ahead of time or of the CIA operation in their country to track him down. Afridi was arrested in the weeks after the raid. He was convicted and sentenced last week for conspiring against the state.
The lawyers said authorities have not given them documents related to the case, including a copy of the verdict.
Afridi’s brother said the doctor had an American visa and pointed out that he stayed in Pakistan after the bin Laden raid for 20 days, and didn’t leave the country.
“Had he been guilty, he would have escaped,” Jamil Afridi said.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Sunday that the lengthy prison sentence handed to Dr. Shakil Afridi “disturbing.”
“It is so difficult to understand and it’s so disturbing that they would sentence this doctor to 33 years for helping in the search for the most notorious terrorist in our times,” Panetta said. “This doctor was not working against Pakistan.”
Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridii, who helped the U. S. track down Osama bin Laden,
was sentenced to 33 years in prison May 23 for conspiring against the state, officials said.
U.S. officials have urged Pakistan to release the physician, who ran a vaccination program for the CIA to collect DNA and verify the al-Qaida leader’s presence at the compound in the town of Abbottabad where U.S. commandos killed him in May 2011.
The strained relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan was on public display at last week’s NATO meeting, where Obama left Pakistan off a list of nations he thanked for help getting war supplies into Afghanistan.
Panetta called the U.S. relationship with Pakistan “one of the most complicated we’ve had.”
“This is a country that still is critical in that region of the world,” he said. “It’s an up-and-down relationship. There have been periods where we’ve had good cooperation and they have worked with us.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Comments (31)
jimmyrbowman
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 6:01am“It is so difficult to understand and it’s so disturbing that they would sentence this doctor to 33 years for helping in the search for the most notorious terrorist in our times,” Panetta said. Huh? Really?! This, from the same administration, that tells us the Muslim Brotherhood is a “largely secular organization”. No surprise to see their incompetence (if not their collusion) exemplified yet again?
Report Post »RamonPreston
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 5:22amDoes anything Obama do surprise you? It shouldn’t. He’s not the first one Obama has “thrown under the bus.” More to follow.
Report Post »amerbur
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 1:47amThis man is a hero not a criminal.
Report Post »amerbur
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 1:46amShame on America. Shame on Pakistan. Time to free this man and his family.
Report Post »cruzinbill
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 7:17pmsorry doc you were just throned under the bus like so many others by O.
Report Post »cruzinbill
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 7:14pmits shameful that obummer thew this man under the bus.
Report Post »Larry E
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 6:57pmA sham trial in Pakistan or very nearly ANY other Islamic country? Unbelievable.
Report Post »riseandshine
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 6:57pmSmoke and Mirrors.
Report Post »Moe1138
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 6:46pmI’m shocked, I tell you, shocked! It was just a matter of time before they put someone on trial to be convicted of “whatever” they could make up. Finding Osama was never the intention of the Afghan government, just to keep U.S. and allies at bay, taking our monies and proclaiming he’s lost in the hills. Osama is related to the Saudi’s Royal Family. I’m sure that Afghanistan receives monies from Saudi Arabia, and if they capture/kill Osama and proclaim it across the world, monies and relations dry up. A death sentence for Afghanistan.
Report Post »D-Fence
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 6:23pmWhat a disgrace. Our politician‘s and the CIA should have spirited this man and his family out of Pakistan as they were raiding Osama’s compound. This is the same BS that happened to the Montagnard fighters and other collaborators that sided with the US in Vietnam then were screwed in the name of political expediency. Remember what happened to the Shite population in the Basra region of Iraq after Desert Storm? As soon as we pulled out Saddam flew in his choppers and mowed them down. Now they have AlSadr as their leader and they hate us. Shameful.
Report Post »CatherineAnn
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 6:21pmWhere is the outrage in this country? This man helped us and he will pay with his life. Obama is so arrogant. I bet little is mentioned in the new and upcoming movie full of Obama propaganda. They will just walk away from this man and forget him. That is the Obama way. This little man is nothing but a used up pawn. Watch out Americans you are pawns too.
Report Post »loveliberty83
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 6:20pmproblem big mouth people in DC none have been military so do not know you do not dicuss anything with anyone I think Penetti put this man in danger how dare they say anything about who helped them this is the most stupid administration in the world i also think this is the reason we lost those navy seals it was reprisal
Report Post »universalphilos
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 6:16pmNow I agree with Michelle. I am ashamed of my country.
Report Post »universalphilos
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 6:15pmWe owe our heros a safe haven where they and their loved ones can have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. He is a brave, courageous man who made a loving choice to do the right thing. The Marines do not leave behind one fallen man. Should he, of all people not be rescued? Let us pray for his well being and safety under the Father of us all, by whatever name we know Him.
Report Post »johnpaulkuchtajr
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 5:42pmThat’s the “Chicago Way.”
Dr. Afridi outlived his political usefulness, so it was time to throw him under the bus.
I can just hear the snickers in the West Wing “That should fix ‘em.”
Just another nail in America’s coffin hammered by the Chicago version of Doctor Death.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 3:45pmAccording to the story on Voice to America on Sunday, the Pakistani govt swept him into an provincial court, would not let him speak, and a justice declared him guilty of treason w/o a trial of any kind; the sentence was already determined.
The fact is clear – Obama used and abandoned him after UBL fell; Obama has yet more betrayal and blood upon his hands.
Report Post »sacwoodpusher
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 3:41pmSo….we gave 1.6 billion of military aid and about 1.5 billion of other aid to Pakistan. Their persecution of this Dr. proves they are FINO ( friend in name only). As such, they should get no foreign aid. Yet another Islamist nation that is not our friend.
Additionally, we should do an operation and extract this Dr. Bring him to the US. Give him a medal.
Let the Indians take care of Pakistan.
Report Post »Look4DBigPicture
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 3:34pmbut …but…but…I thought Obama was the honorable man who deserves all the credit for finding and killing bin Laden.
This guy doesn‘t fit Obama’s narrative for this year’s election, so the Pakistani doctor gets thrown under the bus.
Report Post »NOBALONEY
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 3:14pmPakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey are all a bunch of backstabbers! The State Department hatred for Israel, and Clinton, Obama, and Panneta’s lack of knowing what foreign affairs is all about. Has Russia, and China running roughshod over the Obama administration.
Report Post »Secretaries Clinton and Panneta were in Washington pushing for the passage of the Law Of the Sea Treaty; which would further shrink and withdraw the United Statess from it’s long standing role in defending freedom by forfeiting sea lanes and ocean shelf over to the U.N.
I’m not happy with Romney either. Spending a few days on the campaign trail with Trump and McCain. Who will Romney pick for the important posts of his administration? GOP establishment hacks? If so, then Tea Party, conservative, and libertarians the fight to secure this nation is far from over.
AOL_REFUGEE
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 3:00pmGood God, WTF does it take to post on this site?
I’m out of this dump. Ta-ta!
Report Post »RamonPreston
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 5:26amGood…bye!
Report Post »AOL_REFUGEE
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 2:58pmThe Pakistanis are a country of horses’ arses.
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 2:55pm“Afridi was tried under the Frontier Crimes Regulations….”
I didn‘t know Cass Sunstein was working with the Pakistani’s.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 2:54pmWe would give them, if we could: Obama, Al Sharpton, Eric Holder, Nancy Pelosi, Bill Ayers, BarneyFrank, Van Jones, George Soros, the Black Panthers, and throw in the Reverand Wright for this man. We have some more who they need over there. These have been a great asset to others, but not to America.
Report Post »———-
This man is more honorable than all the above and then some. This man does not deserve what they are doing to him.
blackyb
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 2:48pmThis one-sided Justice is what the Obama administrations wants for our country. It would be much worse than it is if Obama and Holder had been in longer. Get them out.
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on May 28, 2012 at 2:46pmThey may as well as told who the doctor was, they (the media whores) told how the doctor did his work. Those news people as as bad as the enemy. Remember when stupid Gerald drew a map where the company of soldiers were staying. People like these need to be investigated. They are treacherous or stupid.
Report Post »