33 years in Prison for helping to find Bin Laden

Augmerson

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0524/pakistan-jails-doctor-who-helped-find-bin-laden.html

US officials had urged Pakistan to release the doctor, who ran a vaccination programme for the CIA to collect DNA.
The information gathered was used to verify the al-Qaeda leader's presence at the compound in the town of Abbottabad, where US commandos killed him in May 2011 in a unilateral raid.
The lengthy sentence for Dr Shakil Afridi will be taken as another sign of Pakistan's defiance of US wishes.
It could give more fuel to critics in the US that Pakistan - which has yet to arrest anyone for helping shelter Bin Laden - should no longer be treated as an ally.
The verdict came days after a NATO summit in Chicago that was overshadowed by tensions between the two countries.
Islamabad was invited in expectation that it would reopen supply lines for NATO and US troops to Afghanistan. It has blocked the lines for nearly six months to protest against US airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops on the Afghan border.
However it did not reopen the routes, and instead repeated demands for an apology from Washington for the airstrikes.
Pakistan's treatment of Shakil Afridi since his arrest following the Bin Laden raid has in many ways symbolised the gulf between Washington and Islamabad.
In the US and other Western nations, Afridi was viewed as a hero who helped eliminate the world's most wanted man.
However Pakistan army and spy chiefs were outraged by the raid, which led to international suspicion that they had been harbouring the al-Qaeda chief.
In their eyes, Afridi was a traitor who had collaborated with a foreign spy agency in an illegal operation on its soil.
Afridi, who is in his 50s, was detained sometime after the raid, but the start of his trial was never publicised.

Seriously Pakistan, what the **** are you doing?

BattleCorp

I think it is the media who are seizing on the Bin Laden aspect.

The Pakistani authorities jailed him for being a CIA spy, collecting a database of DNA for them.

You'd probably be breaking the law by doing that here in Ireland too.

al28283

Augmerson wrote: »

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0524/pakistan-jails-doctor-who-helped-find-bin-laden.html

US officials had urged Pakistan to release the doctor, who ran a vaccination programme for the CIA to collect DNA.
The information gathered was used to verify the al-Qaeda leader's presence at the compound in the town of Abbottabad, where US commandos killed him in May 2011 in a unilateral raid.
The lengthy sentence for Dr Shakil Afridi will be taken as another sign of Pakistan's defiance of US wishes.
It could give more fuel to critics in the US that Pakistan - which has yet to arrest anyone for helping shelter Bin Laden - should no longer be treated as an ally.
The verdict came days after a NATO summit in Chicago that was overshadowed by tensions between the two countries.
Islamabad was invited in expectation that it would reopen supply lines for NATO and US troops to Afghanistan. It has blocked the lines for nearly six months to protest against US airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops on the Afghan border.
However it did not reopen the routes, and instead repeated demands for an apology from Washington for the airstrikes.
Pakistan's treatment of Shakil Afridi since his arrest following the Bin Laden raid has in many ways symbolised the gulf between Washington and Islamabad.
In the US and other Western nations, Afridi was viewed as a hero who helped eliminate the world's most wanted man.
However Pakistan army and spy chiefs were outraged by the raid, which led to international suspicion that they had been harbouring the al-Qaeda chief.
In their eyes, Afridi was a traitor who had collaborated with a foreign spy agency in an illegal operation on its soil.
Afridi, who is in his 50s, was detained sometime after the raid, but the start of his trial was never publicised.

Seriously Pakistan, what the **** are you doing?

What is it you don't agree with? He collaborated with a foreign nation and gave info which ultimately led to a military incursion

Augmerson

BattleCorp wrote: »

I think it is the media who are seizing on the Bin Laden aspect.

The Pakistani authorities jailed him for being a CIA spy, collecting a database of DNA for them.

You'd probably be breaking the law by doing that here in Ireland too.

Ah, you know, I overlooked that but I thought that considering everything that happened, it would be less bad press to let him go or something. I wonder what the spying laws or laws against treason are like here?

Nodin

Augmerson wrote: »

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0524/pakistan-jails-doctor-who-helped-find-bin-laden.html

US officials had urged Pakistan to release the doctor, who ran a vaccination programme for the CIA to collect DNA.
The information gathered was used to verify the al-Qaeda leader's presence at the compound in the town of Abbottabad, where US commandos killed him in May 2011 in a unilateral raid.
The lengthy sentence for Dr Shakil Afridi will be taken as another sign of Pakistan's defiance of US wishes.
It could give more fuel to critics in the US that Pakistan - which has yet to arrest anyone for helping shelter Bin Laden - should no longer be treated as an ally.
The verdict came days after a NATO summit in Chicago that was overshadowed by tensions between the two countries.
Islamabad was invited in expectation that it would reopen supply lines for NATO and US troops to Afghanistan. It has blocked the lines for nearly six months to protest against US airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops on the Afghan border.
However it did not reopen the routes, and instead repeated demands for an apology from Washington for the airstrikes.
Pakistan's treatment of Shakil Afridi since his arrest following the Bin Laden raid has in many ways symbolised the gulf between Washington and Islamabad.
In the US and other Western nations, Afridi was viewed as a hero who helped eliminate the world's most wanted man.
However Pakistan army and spy chiefs were outraged by the raid, which led to international suspicion that they had been harbouring the al-Qaeda chief.
In their eyes, Afridi was a traitor who had collaborated with a foreign spy agency in an illegal operation on its soil.
Afridi, who is in his 50s, was detained sometime after the raid, but the start of his trial was never publicised.

Seriously Pakistan, what the **** are you doing?

The yanks might get him out in a year or two. He's probably safer inside at the mo.

Run_to_da_hills

Which Bin Laden were they talking about?

http://i49.tinypic.com/2z5spqp.jpg

Nothingbetter2d

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Which Bin Laden were they talking about?

http://i49.tinypic.com/2z5spqp.jpg

the fella that invented black bin liners

Augmerson

Nodin wrote: »

The yanks might get him out in a year or two. He's probably safer inside at the mo.

I totally read that in Carol Vorderman's voice from Tomorrow's World. "The Yanks should get him out in a year or two"

BattleCorp

Augmerson wrote: »

Ah, you know, I overlooked that but I thought that considering everything that happened, it would be less bad press to let him go or something. I wonder what the spying laws or laws against treason are like here?

Laws are laws and should be enforced no matter how much bad press they cause.

That said, he probably did the world a favour.

Nodin

Augmerson wrote: »

I totally read that in Carol Vorderman's voice from Tomorrow's World. "The Yanks should get him out in a year or two"

Carol Vorderman was on Tomorrows world? Jaysus....don't remember her at all......I'm losing it now....soon the langer will give up the ghost...then its game over....

Augmerson

BattleCorp wrote: »

Laws are laws and should be enforced no matter how much bad press they cause.

That said, he probably did the world a favour.

Certainly did Obama's re-election prospects no damage.

seantorious

The guy broke medical law and ethics to help the CIA. There's no worse crime than that, the CIA are bast**ds

humbert

Imagine some doctor in Ireland was handing over people's DNA to the CIA. Might be political but the end doesn't justify the means here IMO.

Augmerson

seantorious wrote: »

The guy broke medical law and ethics to help the CIA. There's no worse crime than that, the CIA are bast**ds

Probably not that he knew what the bigger picture was, but what he did led to the "Coalition of the Willing" eliminating Bin Laden.

If something in 1945 happened with say, Hitler on the run, and someone supposed to be helping him spoke up about his location, do you think the German Gov't would do well to sentence the guy who spoke up to 33 years in prison?

What's the name for that law when somebody brings up Hitler and the Nazi's in an argument online?

Hande hoche!

Godwinned.

humbert

It's my understanding that the whole idea of a united Taliban is complete balderdash anyway. It's just useful to associate words like 'evil' with face, especially a creepy gaunt bearded foreign looking face.

BattleCorp

Augmerson wrote: »

Probably not that he knew what the bigger picture was, but what he did led to the "Coalition of the Willing" eliminating Bin Laden.

If something in 1945 happened with say, Hitler on the run, and someone supposed to be helping him spoke up about his location, do you think the German Gov't would do well to sentence the guy who spoke up to 33 years in prison?

What's the name for that law when somebody brings up Hitler and the Nazi's in an argument online?

Don't forget that the CIA pretty much created Bin Laden. They originally trained him, armed him and sent him out to fight the Russians on their behalf.

I'm not supporting Bin Laden but don't forget that how people view Bin Laden depends on what side of the fence you sit on. The US pretty much viewed him as the Antichrist and a portion of the Islamic world viewed him as a freedom fighter fighting for Muslims against the Great Evil. One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

The end doesn't always justify the means. It's not ok for Bin Laden's crew to go around blowing up innocent people but it isn't ok either for drones to take out small villages with 30 or so people just to kill 5 terrorists. It seems to me that no matter who is killed, men, women, children, they are all conveniently labelled as insurgents.

johngalway

Shows which way the wind blows in Pakistan. They're certainly not to be trusted.

Tym

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

Not when you attack civilians. I don't think there's ever been "freedom Fighters" that resorted to terror. The protestant who feared an Irish Chaothlic government were, in some ways, proven completly right. And we did become an almost Religious Fundamentalist state after the War for Independance.

How is Sharia law freedom? It's probably the exact opposite of freedom for both men and women.

I'm not actually attacking your post, and yes I did take that quote rather out of context, but I'm just saying my opinion:P

omgitsthelazor

yawn, another "lets miss the point to make the situation more dramatic than it is" thread. Go write for the daily mail and leave after hours alone.

My name is URL

johngalway wrote: »

Shows which way the wind blows in Pakistan. They're certainly not to be trusted.

Not defending it or anything, but the guy did leak intelligence to a foreign force which led to an attack on home soil. How many years would someone get for leaking info on a defector in the US which led to a military assault on American soil?

[The Doctor] who ran a vaccination programme for the CIA to collect DNA.

That in itself should not be ignored or excused.

davetherave

Augmerson wrote: »

Ah, you know, I overlooked that but I thought that considering everything that happened, it would be less bad press to let him go or something. I wonder what the spying laws or laws against treason are like here?

Minimum of 40 years imprisonment for treason.
Section 4 Criminal Justice Act 1990.

johngalway

My name is URL wrote: »

Not defending it or anything, but the guy did leak intelligence to a foreign force which led to an attack on home soil. How many years would someone get for leaking info on a defector in the US which led to a military assault on American soil?

I understand that, but he did a service to the world with the work he did. Bin Laden was hiding out surrounded by Pakistani military in that area, no one knew he was there? I don't think so. There's a glut of terrorist sympathisers in positions of power within Pakistan. The ISI have/are the source of life to the Taliban, which isn't Al Qaeda but they did accommodate them and their training camps. They could have got rid of the problem by carelessly letting the doctor escape to the USA/wherever as China did with the blind guy. 33 years for providing the information that led to the death of someone like Bin Laden sends out some signal to the rest of the world.

MagicSean

In Ireland he'd probably only get fined for breaching data protection laws.

LH Pathe

That's odd...

should have given him 34 n called it even

eth0

The Yanks screwed this fella over for his part in helping them find Bin Laden. It would have cost them another million or 2 to get this lad to the states and buy him a nice house but they didn't bother.

On top of what the project to capture Bin Laden must have cost them you'd hardly notice these few extra millions but there was probably someone in the CIA eyeing a promotion off the boss and his chance to save a few bob by leaving this lad out to dry paid off for him.

This shi1thead is likely to be after buying himself a new house (mortgage) and a new GM-made pile of sh1t pickup truck (car loan) and a 60" TV from his wage increase thinking he's "the sh1t" turning a blind eye to the fact that he screwed over this doctor to get to where he is now.


The Americans: No better than a drug lord who stands by and watches while his mules to rot in jail or get the death penalty

wes

Incredibly mis-leading op, and typical of the West to only tell half the story.

While the guy did help find Bin Laden. His methods were nothing short of repugnant, and I am pretty sure he violated the Hippocratic oath in the process.

They created a fake vaccination program, where they only gave one of the 3 required doses. So there are kids in Pakistan who think they are vaccinated, and aren't. Those kids are now in danger due to the CIA and this man, and some may very well die, but when the US kills innocent people, apparently its ok.

His actions will also increase existing suspicion to such programs, which will again lead to more deaths. This so called Doctor deserves to rot for every single second for what he did, and imho he got of lightly. If all he did was help get Bin Laden, then I wouldn't have any issues with that, but what he did was endanger innocent children, which makes him and the CIA little better than terrorists imho.

The Wests version of the events only mentions getting Bin Laden, and when the West does something that results in endangering children, then its ok. The end justifies the means, but when the other guy uses the same logic there evil terrorists. Pretty straight forward hypocrisy.

Glen Greenwald of Salon.com wrote an excellent article on this:
The Imperial Mind

For the most part the Western media pretty much ignores the CIA and there helper endangering civilians and try to paint Pakistan as evil for rightfully tossing this guy in jail. The harm that the CIA and this so called "Doctor" (he no longer deserves this title due to his putting innocent children in danger) is being ignored and entirely one sided fantasy is being presenting, of how the "Good Guys" killed Bin Laden. Don't get me wrong, I could care less about Bin Laden, he brought his death on himself, but the children that the CIA and this "Doctor" put in danger is imho an unforgivable crime, and at least one of the perpetrators is seeing the inside of a prison cell is a good thing.

true

johngalway wrote: »

I understand that, but he did a service to the world with the work he did. Bin Laden was hiding out surrounded by Pakistani military in that area, no one knew he was there? I don't think so. There's a glut of terrorist sympathisers in positions of power within Pakistan.

33 years for providing the information that led to the death of someone like Bin Laden sends out some signal to the rest of the world.

Well said.

Do not forget our government gave millions of euro "aid" to the Pakistani government following floods there a few years ago.....despite the fact that Pakistan is a nuclear power. It should be able to afford to look after its own problems.

Statement of the week: " 33 years for providing the information that led to the death of someone like Bin Laden sends out some signal to the rest of the world ". Do not forget Bin Laden killed thousands in 9/11, and damaged economies and destroyed lives.

wes

true wrote: »

Statement of the week: " 33 years for providing the information that led to the death of someone like Bin Laden sends out some signal to the rest of the world ". Do not forget Bin Laden killed thousands in 9/11, and damaged economies and destroyed lives.

So the lives of Pakistani children are worthless I take it........ The fact is that the CIA are rather adept at destroying lives themselves, and there hunt for Bin Laden is a prefect example of this, shows the extreme hypocrisy of your statement.

The signal being sent to the world, from the US is rather simple, when we put the lives of Pakistani children in danger, we are heroes, and so is anyone who helps us, and that the lives of Pakistani children are worthless to us. I am sure plenty of people in that part of the world heard them loud and clear.

Gee Bag

Nodin wrote: »

I'm losing it now....soon the langer will give up the ghost...then its game over....

Don't worry Nodin, four new duracell batteries and the langer will be vibrating away like goodo.

Capt'n Midnight

BattleCorp wrote: »

I think it is the media who are seizing on the Bin Laden aspect.

The Pakistani authorities jailed him for being a CIA spy, collecting a database of DNA for them.

You'd probably be breaking the law by doing that here in Ireland too.

Breaking US law too.

Capt'n Midnight

And now the important question.

Will this affect the Polio Eradication program ?
We are close to getting rid of it forever.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/02/05/the-pakistani-doctor-who-helped-the-cia-nail-bin-laden.html

At the request of the CIA, which had reason to think the al Qaeda leader was holed up in a high-walled compound in Abbottabad, the doctor had mounted a fake hepatitis-immunization program. Having spearheaded several polio-immunization drives over the years, Afridi knew how to stage the campaign convincingly.

http://www.cdc.gov/polio/updates/

While no polio cases have been detected in India for more than a year, poliovirus transmission is ongoing in the other three endemic countries – Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. GPEI’s Independent Monitoring Board considers Nigeria and Pakistan to be the greatest challenges for eradicating polio.
...
t is therefore imperative that we make this final push toward eradication one of our highest priorities. As Dr. Frieden has stated, “If we fail to get over the finish line, we will need to continue expensive control measures for the indefinite future…More importantly, without eradication, a resurgence of polio could paralyze more than 200,000 children worldwide every year within a decade.” Now is the time, we must not fail.

MagicSean

wes wrote: »

Incredibly mis-leading op, and typical of the West to only tell half the story.

While the guy did help find Bin Laden. His methods were nothing short of repugnant, and I am pretty sure he violated the Hippocratic oath in the process.

They created a fake vaccination program, where they only gave one of the 3 required doses. So there are kids in Pakistan who think they are vaccinated, and aren't. Those kids are now in danger due to the CIA and this man, and some may very well die, but when the US kills innocent people, apparently its ok.

His actions will also increase existing suspicion to such programs, which will again lead to more deaths. This so called Doctor deserves to rot for every single second for what he did, and imho he got of lightly. If all he did was help get Bin Laden, then I wouldn't have any issues with that, but what he did was endanger innocent children, which makes him and the CIA little better than terrorists imho.

The Wests version of the events only mentions getting Bin Laden, and when the West does something that results in endangering children, then its ok. The end justifies the means, but when the other guy uses the same logic there evil terrorists. Pretty straight forward hypocrisy.

Glen Greenwald of Salon.com wrote an excellent article on this:
The Imperial Mind

For the most part the Western media pretty much ignores the CIA and there helper endangering civilians and try to paint Pakistan as evil for rightfully tossing this guy in jail. The harm that the CIA and this so called "Doctor" (he no longer deserves this title due to his putting innocent children in danger) is being ignored and entirely one sided fantasy is being presenting, of how the "Good Guys" killed Bin Laden. Don't get me wrong, I could care less about Bin Laden, he brought his death on himself, but the children that the CIA and this "Doctor" put in danger is imho an unforgivable crime, and at least one of the perpetrators is seeing the inside of a prison cell is a good thing.

I would have thought the reason they didn't come back to finish the vaccinations was because they didn't want to be arrested and thrown in jail for 33 years.

Ellis Dee

There are not many countries in the world that look kindly on their citizens helping the intelligence agencies of a foreign state, especially one that violates its sovereignty and kills its military personnel and citizens with its cowboy tactics. Do you seriously think the Americans would just give one of their own who spies for even a friendly country like the UK, Japan or France no more than just a slap on the wrist? Just look at what they are doing to Bradley Manning for doing the world a service by blowing the whistle on a lot of wrongdoing by the USA.:rolleyes::rolleyes:

I have little sympathy for that doctor, especially in view of the fact that he set up a bogus vaccination programme. He has thereby done incalculable harm by making all vaccination programmes in many parts of the world suspect and the ones who will pay dearly for it are children and other vulnerable people.:):)

Serves him right! Don't drop the soap, Doctor Sahib!:D:D

.

jank

Ellis Dee wrote: »

There are not many countries in the world that look kindly on their citizens helping the intelligence agencies of a foreign state, especially one that violates its sovereignty and kills its military personnel and citizens with its cowboy tactics. Do you seriously think the Americans would just give one of their own who spies for even a friendly country like the UK, Japan or France no more than just a slap on the wrist? Just look at what they are doing to Bradley Manning for doing the world a service by blowing the whistle on a lot of wrongdoing by the USA.:rolleyes::rolleyes:

I have little sympathy for that doctor, especially in view of the fact that he set up a bogus vaccination programme. He has thereby done incalculable harm by making all vaccination programmes in many parts of the world suspect and the ones who will pay dearly for it are children and other vulnerable people.:):)

Serves him right! Don't drop the soap, Doctor Sahib!:D:D

.

Very nice morals you have, oh sorry your an atheist!

Hande hoche!

Hande hoche! wrote: »

Godwinned.

It was only a matter of time, really.

Happy Monday

33 years!
First offence.

biko

jank wrote: »

Very nice morals you have, oh sorry your an atheist!

Those morals keep atheists from chopping off hands, burning their children at the altar or thinking their infants are born with original sin. Works for me.
But that's not what this thread is discussing.

Capt'n Midnight

Happy Monday wrote: »

33 years!
First offence.

until 1990 treason carried the death penalty here

now it's 40 years http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1990/en/act/pub/0016/print.htmlThe Criminal Justice Act 1990 abolished the death penalty, setting the punishment for treason at life imprisonment, with parole in not less than forty years.

Zab

So I did some reading after I saw this post. Most of this has already been mentioned.

What the man did was wrong. In order to get access to the suspected Osama house he created a fake free vaccination plan. To make the program look genuine they started in a poorer part of town. The vaccination in question requires more than one dose, with a second dose being administered a month after the first. After they had administered the first dose in the poorer area they moved to the area where Osama lived in order to lure out people living in the house, and never returned to the poorer area.

These children have been injected with a chemical as a ruse. There's no defending that. Furthermore, in some parts of the world kids go unvaccinated because vaccines are seen as a Western plot to infect their children. That a doctor would essentially make these fears true is pretty despicable. The whole thing didn't even work as he failed to get access to the Osama house. It would be one thing if he intended to grab some DNA in the course of an otherwise legitimate vaccination program, but the method here seems indefensible to me.

The US should be ashamed of their role in this one, and certainly shouldn't be looking for his unconditional release.

I'd have questions about how Pakistan have dealt with this whole affair though, and further questions as to whether this was actually treason or not. Surely to be treason the US would have to be declared an enemy or some sort of state secret would have to be divulged? Regardless, he seems to have been denied a proper trial which is clearly a bad thing. It looks likely he has been turned into a political football, regardless of whether his crime deserves 33 years or not.

jank

biko wrote: »

Those morals keep atheists from chopping off hands, burning their children at the altar or thinking their infants are born with original sin. Works for me.
But that's not what this thread is discussing.

Yes, because all people of faith kill their children at the alter. Who the **** does that these days?

wes

MagicSean wrote: »

I would have thought the reason they didn't come back to finish the vaccinations was because they didn't want to be arrested and thrown in jail for 33 years.

So you making excuses for those putting the lives of children in danger? The reason they didn't come back, is because the program was a fake (very well established fact), and that is one of the reasons this "Doctor" will not rightly rot in jail for 33 years. Its nothing short of disgusting that anyone would make excuses for those who endangered the lives of children like this.

ejmaztec

wes wrote: »

So you making excuses for those putting the lives of children in danger? The reason they didn't come back, is because the program was a fake (very well established fact), and that is one of the reasons this "Doctor" will not rightly rot in jail for 33 years. Its nothing short of disgusting that anyone would make excuses for those who endangered the lives of children like this.

Which children were injured?

wes

ejmaztec wrote: »

Which children were injured?

The ones who didn't get the full vaccine, lives are in danger, as they think they were vaccinated. I posted a link earlier about that. BTW, I never used the word injured, but the fact remains they put the lives of children in danger.

Then, there is the damage that has been done to such programs, which will result in more harm to children.

aidan24326

BattleCorp wrote: »

Laws are laws and should be enforced no matter how much bad press they cause

No they shouldn't. Laws often exist to protect vested interests, not to protect the ordinary person. Consider the fact that in Ireland you'd be likely to serve a longer prison sentence for tax evasion than for a lot of crimes against the person, such as serious assualt, rape, battery, even attempted murder.

That said, he probably did the world a favour

Why though? Bin Laden wasn't much of a threat at this stage. The Americans going in and killing him smacked of political grandstanding, hey look we got the bad guy. Even though the evidence linking him to 9/11 is sketchy at best. It was effectively murder.

A crass appeasemeant of the rabble-rousing American public who thirst for vengeance. It served no prticualrly useful purpose other than political dick-swinging by Obama and his cronies.

Unavailable for Comment

Augmerson wrote: »

Seriously Pakistan, what the **** are you doing?

The US will not be paying the 25 million dollar bounty on Bin Laden as intelligence officials believe that no single person is responsible for putting investigators on his trail. Surely if the good doctor was so important to the capture he would have received enough money to relocate himself?

Instead they believe it was an operational mistake on the part of one of his aides, Abu Ahmed al Kuwaiti, in reusing a known mobile phone number that enabled them to trace Osama's whereabouts.

How did they obtain that mobile number originally? Interestingly it was a gift from the Pakistani intelligence service.

So yeah that's what they were doing. Bit more helpful than willfully endangering children that's for sure.

Tym

So yeah that's what they were doing. Bit more helpful than willfully endangering children that's for sure.

Is there any proof that anybody was hurt in any way? If you could give a link to prove he gave inadequate vaccines?

CruelCoin

Augmerson wrote: »

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0524/pakistan-jails-doctor-who-helped-find-bin-laden.html

US officials had urged Pakistan to release the doctor, who ran a vaccination programme for the CIA to collect DNA.
The information gathered was used to verify the al-Qaeda leader's presence at the compound in the town of Abbottabad, where US commandos killed him in May 2011 in a unilateral raid.
The lengthy sentence for Dr Shakil Afridi will be taken as another sign of Pakistan's defiance of US wishes.
It could give more fuel to critics in the US that Pakistan - which has yet to arrest anyone for helping shelter Bin Laden - should no longer be treated as an ally.
The verdict came days after a NATO summit in Chicago that was overshadowed by tensions between the two countries.
Islamabad was invited in expectation that it would reopen supply lines for NATO and US troops to Afghanistan. It has blocked the lines for nearly six months to protest against US airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops on the Afghan border.
However it did not reopen the routes, and instead repeated demands for an apology from Washington for the airstrikes.
Pakistan's treatment of Shakil Afridi since his arrest following the Bin Laden raid has in many ways symbolised the gulf between Washington and Islamabad.
In the US and other Western nations, Afridi was viewed as a hero who helped eliminate the world's most wanted man.
However Pakistan army and spy chiefs were outraged by the raid, which led to international suspicion that they had been harbouring the al-Qaeda chief.
In their eyes, Afridi was a traitor who had collaborated with a foreign spy agency in an illegal operation on its soil.
Afridi, who is in his 50s, was detained sometime after the raid, but the start of his trial was never publicised.

Seriously Pakistan, what the **** are you doing?

Bin Laden was an evil man, no doubt about that.

Fact remains however, that despite what the world at large may think about it, the doctor broke Pakistani national laws and committed a tresonous act, and deserves the sentance to go with it.

Give an inch, take a mile. You can't let this incident slide lest you create a casus belli for other crimes like this to go unpunished. Like sharing out Pakistani nuclear secrets etc. "oh but you freed him, so you should free me too...."

Unavailable for Comment

Tym wrote: »

Is there any proof that anybody was hurt in any way? If you could give a link to prove he gave inadequate vaccines?

According to the Washington Post he was traveling door to door offering to administer a hepatitis B vaccination. Although the vaccination was real it takes three doses to be effective. He only administered one meaning that the people he treated are not protected. The dangers from that are straightforward.

Added to that and far and away more reprehensible is that there is already an incredible amount of fear and mistrust in Pakistan about NGO vaccination programmes. Many people don't take part in them as they believe they are part of a secret Western agenda. Obviously for the many Western NGO staff in Pakistan and Afghanistan, their work has just become more difficult, perhaps insurmountably so. Who knows how many casualties will arise from the backlash against vaccinations?

And for what? These DNA samples that were taken were solely used to identify a body. Could they not have been harvested from his relatives during the assault or even taken voluntarily from one of Bin Laden's many, many blood relatives knocking around Europe?

The ends did not quite justify the means.

For further reading check out Maryn McKenna's excellent piece in Wired as well as Guardian piece that broke it. Google is your friend here.

Tym

You can't let this incident slide lest you create a casus belli for other crimes like this to go unpunished. Like sharing out Pakistani nuclear secrets etc. "oh but you freed him, so you should free me too...."

Yup, it would create a dangerous precedent for other acts of treason. Although I think some sort of watch should be kept on him so he's not abused in that prision...

CruelCoin

Tym wrote: »

Yup, it would create a dangerous precedent for other acts of treason. Although I think some sort of watch should be kept on him so he's not abused in that prision...

Or quietly silienced in a "he fell down the stairs" accident.