Dr. Shakeel Afridi gets jail punishment

Political administration Khyber awarded 33 years prison punishment to Dr. Shakeel Afridi. Dr. Shakeel Afridi was produced in the court of APA Bara Nasir Khan here on Wednesday where he was sentenced to 33 years jail under the clauses of Pakistan Penal Code/11 FCR, clauses 121A, 123A, A124, in addition to a fine of 3, 20000 if failed to pay this amount, the convicted Doctor Afridi will have to languish three years more in Peshawar jail. He is the doctor who had helped the CIA track down Al-Qaeda Chief Osama Bin Laden in Abbot Abad, Khyber House well informed sources updated.

Dr. Shakeel Afridi gained vital information for the US intelligence CIA by organizing a fake vaccination campaign in the area containing the former al Qaeda chief in his compound in the garrison town of Abbottabad. “He was in the custody of the political administration since his apprehension near Karkhano market in Peshawar for his negative and subversive role against the sovereignty, security and integrity of the state”, the administration source in Khyber house said.

Afridi had been taken into custody by Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence agency and later fired as a government doctor by the FATA health services along with some other colleagues. He had also been kidnapped in 2008 by Lashkar-e-Islami, an insurgent group, which is operational in Bara, sub-division of Khyber Agency ad Tirrah Valley at the moment for his alleged fake surgeries of the patients.

Dr. Shakeel Afridi was found guilty under the tribal justice system of Khyber district known as FCR, which has been implemented since the British Raj in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Dr. Shakeel Afridi was awarded the 33 years imprisonment punishment in short proceeding at the court of APA Bara, which is situated inside the compound of the Khyber House at Peshawar where the top officer of the Khyber Agency has also his office. The verdict was announced to Dr Afridi by APA Bara Nasir Khan in his court where the alleged doctor was produced. Later the convicted doctor was shifted to Peshawar central jail in tight security.

Dr. Shakeel Afridi’s life has been spared by giving him jail punishment under the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) under the pressure of the US government because under the FCR he could not be hanged rather a powerful and influential tribal jirga of the elders could also set him free if they approach Political Agent Khyber to forgive him, which has been the tribal tradition, some tribal experts opined.