SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — A Pakistani alliance of religio-political parties has called for hanging of a doctor who helped the American CIA reaches Osama bin Laden.
Shakil Afridi was accused of running a fake vaccination campaign to get DN samples of the children of Osama bin Laden in a compound in the Pakistani city of Abbotabad.
A tribal court handed down 33-year imprisonment to Afridi.
The US has criticized jailing of Afridi and has been demanding his release. The US has also suspended 33 million dollars of aid due to punishment to Afridi.
The Defence of Pakistan Council (DPC) asked the government not to hand over Afridi to the US as it would be a big mistake.
The government should give him “nothing less than a death sentence”, the DPC chief Maulana Samiul Haq said.
Speaking at a news conference in the city of Akora Khattak after presiding over a DPC meeting, he maintained that Afridi had committed treason and should not be spared for it.
Bin Laden was subsequently shot dead in a US raid in May 2011. Afridi was sentenced to 33 years in prison by a tribal court on charges of treason, for collaborating with militants.
After his sentencing, a furious Senate Appropriations Committee voted to cut US aid to Pakistan by a symbolic $33 million – $1 million for each year of jail time.
Another legislation was introduced in the US Senate on Tuesday demanding a cut in all aid to Pakistan unless Afridi is released and allowed to leave the country.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has termed the sentence “unjust and unwarranted”, saying Afridi was “instrumental in taking down one of the world’s most-wanted murderers”.
The DPC also announced protest rallies against US drone strikes on Friday. — www.shafaqna.com
