PESHAWAR — A Pakistan doctor who assisted the CIA in tracking down Osama Bin Laden was sentenced to 33 years in prison for conspiring with an Islamist militant commander, a verdict that will make it more difficult for Washington to argue for his release.
The judgment against Shakil Afridi debunked the widely held assumption that he had been convicted for his involvement with the American spy agency.

The decision referred to unspecified evidence that Afridi had “acted” with foreign intelligence agencies, but went on to say any charges related to that couldn’t be considered because the court didn’t have jurisdiction. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the five-page document, first reported by Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper, on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, Afridi’s family and lawyers said he was innocent and would appeal. They said they had not yet seen the court verdict and refused to comment on his relations with the CIA. The trial was carried out in a court in the country’s tribal regions close to Afghanistan. A political official, in consultation with tribal elders, ruled on the case in secret.

The United States has called for Pakistan to release Afridi, and his punishment has become another flashpoint issue in the fractured relations between the two countries. Pakistan’s army was outraged by the unilateral US raid that killed Bin Laden in May 2011 because it was a violation of the country’s sovereignty and added to perceptions it was a sponsor of terror. — AP