WASHINGTON - The United States says the 10-year sentence reduction for the doctor said to have helped the US track down Osama bin Laden was a positive step, but his jail term was still unjust and unwarranted.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters Tuesday the US was continuing to tell Pakistan that the conviction sent the wrong message about “our shared interest in counterterrorism and, in particular, bringing Osama bin Laden to justice.”
Last week, Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) Commissioner Munir Azam reduced Dr Shakil Afridi’s 33-year sentence by 10 years and his Rs 320,000 fine by Rs 100,000.
Dr Afridi was convicted for his links with a banned group, Lashkar-i-Islam, and its chief, Managal Bagh. He had allegedly helped the CIA by running a fake vaccination campaign in Abbottabad a month before the US forces’ raid on a compound that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011.