Oil tankers, which were used to transport NATO fuel supplies to Afghanistan, are parked in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, May 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)RIAZ KHAN and SEBASTIAN ABBOT
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) – A Pakistani doctor who helped the U.S. track down Osama bin Laden was sentenced to 33 years in prison on Wednesday for conspiring against the state, officials said, a verdict that is likely to further strain the country’s relationship with Washington.
Shakil Afridi ran a vaccination program for the CIA to collect DNA and verify bin Laden’s presence at the compound in the town of Abbottabad where U.S. commandos killed the al-Qaida chief last May in a unilateral raid. The operation outraged Pakistani officials, who portrayed it as an act of treachery by a supposed ally.
Senior U.S. officials have called for Afridi to be released, saying his work served Pakistani and American interests. But many Pakistani officials, especially those working for the country’s powerful spy agency, do not see it that way.
“He was working for a foreign spy agency. We are looking after our national interests,” said a Pakistani intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with the agency’s policy.