BBC News – Brother of ‘Bin Laden doctor’ calls for verdict appeal

Tuesday 28 May 2012. The brother of a Pakistani doctor recently sentenced to 33 years in prison for helping US intelligence has called for an appeal of the verdict.

Jamil Afridi told a news conference that his brother, Shakil, was innocent.

Dr Afridi was convicted of treason because he ran a fake vaccination programme.

Samples he took enabled American intelligence officers to confirm that Osama Bin Laden was living in a compound in Abbottabad.

It led to the US raid in which Bin Laden was killed in May 2011.

US officials have strongly criticised Dr Afridi’s conviction and on Friday cut $33m (£21m) in aid to Pakistan in response to the jail term.

He was tried for treason under a tribal justice system.

Jamil Afridi and two lawyers representing his brother told the news conference in Peshawar that the tribal court’s verdict – which was handed down last week and whose proceedings were never made public – was a “one-sided decision”.

“All allegations against him are false. He didn’t do anything against the national interest,” he said.

Jamil Afridi also said that although his brother had a US visa, he did not try to flee Pakistan after the Bin Laden raid for 20 days.

“Had he been guilty, he would have escaped,” he said.

Dr Afridi was prosecuted under the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR), the set of laws that govern Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal region.

The FCR do not allow suspects the right to legal representation, to present material evidence or cross-examine witnesses.

Verdicts are usually delivered by a government official in consultation with a council of elders, rather than by a judge.

In addition, Dr Afridi’s lawyers complained that the authorities had not given them documents related to the case, including a copy of the verdict.

Correspondents say that the case puts the family in a tricky position because anti-US sentiment is strong in Pakistan, and people who are viewed as supporting Washington are sometimes targeted by militants, especially in the tribal areas.

In his first comments since last week’s trial, PM Yousuf Raza Gilani called Dr Afridi’s actions “wrong” but said he had the right to a fair trial “through the normal courts”.

“He should be given a right to justice,” Mr Gilani said in an interview with Geo TV on Monday.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18239151

Dawn – Dr Shakil’s shifting from Central Jail Peshawar finalised

Zahir Shah Sherazi

Peshawar, 29 May 2012. A plan, for shifting of Dr Shakil Afridi from Central Jail Peshawar to Punjab, has been finalised and all the law enforcement agencies have been put on high alert to avert any untoward incident.

Official sources told Dawn.com that a special meeting, held on Monday in Peshawar with the concerned department and law enforcement agencies’ representatives, approved the formal shifting plan of Dr Shakil Afridi, convicted for 33 years in a treason case, which led to the killing of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

The sources said that it’s likely that Afridi might be shifted through a special helicopter provided by the interior ministry to a jail or fort in Punjab, which according to the sources have not been finalised but it might be the Attock Fort.

Fool-proof security arrangements have also been ordered for the shifting plan, which can happen any time, but no specific time frame has so far been finalised for security reasons.

The sources added that the provincial authorities have approved the plan for shifting Afridi, owing threats to his life from Taliban inmates of Central Jail Peshawar or attack on the jail like the one on Bannu Jail last month.

Banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Mehsud region chief Waliur Rehman had already threatened to execute Dr Shakil Afridi to avenge bin Laden’s killing a few days ago.

Earlier, Jamil Afridi, the brother of Dr Shakil Afridi, who is a teacher by profession told media representatives in Peshawar that his brother had not committed any crime but he had been made an escape goat in the Osama bin Laden case.

“The punishment awarded to Dr Shakil Afridi under the 40 FCR is unlawful. Neither can we meet him nor we can get the appeal documents signed from him,” said Jamil.

To a query he said: “We can not tell about Dr Shakil’s family as they are faced with security threats but we are not going to accept the verdict of APA and a few jirga members.”

The probable lawyers of Shakil Afridi, Ijaz and Samiullah Afridi on the occasion said that although the political authorities had not handed them copy of the verdict but they are planning to challenge the decision to the FCR Commissioner and the High Court as well.

http://dawn.com/2012/05/29/dr-shakils-shifting-from-central-jail-peshawar-finalised/

Dawn – Treatment of Pakistan doctor ‘unjust, unwarranted:’ Clinton

Washington, 25 May 2012. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday denounced as “unjust and unwarranted” the treatment of a Pakistani doctor who was jailed for 33 years for helping in the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

A tribal court in Khyber, a lawless district and extremist hotbed, on Wednesday convicted Shakeel Afridi of treason after he agreed to collect DNA for US intelligence to verify the presence of the most-wanted al Qaeda leader.

“We regret both the fact that he was convicted and the severity of his sentence,” Clinton told a joint press conference with New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully.

The chief US diplomat said Afridi’s role “was instrumental in taking down one of the world’s most wanted murderers. That was clearly in Pakistan’s interest, as well as ours and the rest of the world’s.” Afridi ran a fake vaccination program designed to collect bin Laden family DNA from the compound in the garrison town of Abbottabad, near Islamabad, where the al Qaeda leader was shot dead in a US commando raid in May 2011.

The doctor’s actions “to help bring about the end of the reign of terror designed and executed by bin Laden was not in any way a betrayal of Pakistan,” Clinton said.

“We are raising it (his case) and we will continue to do so because we think that his treatment is unjust and unwarranted,” she said.

Her remarks were stronger than those given Wednesday by State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland who said Pakistan had “no basis for Dr. Afridi to be held.”

Nuland’s muted remarks came as Washington and Islamabad, allies in the war on terror, struggle to repair ties that hit a low when US forces staged the secret raid into Pakistan that killed bin Laden.

They were strained to breaking point last November when US forces staged a botched raid that killed 24 Pakistani troops, prompting Islamabad to cut off the land route for supplies to Nato troops in neighboring Afghanistan.

Carl Levin and John McCain, the top senators from the two major US parties on the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Wednesday called Afridi’s sentence “shocking and outrageous” and urged Pakistan to pardon and free him immediately.

“Dr. Afridi’s continuing imprisonment and treatment as a criminal will only do further harm to US-Pakistani relations, including diminishing Congress’s willingness to provide financial assistance to Pakistan,” they warned.

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday voted to cut aid to Pakistan by a symbolic $33 million – $1 million for each year of jail time handed to Afridi.

The measure, an amendment to the $52 billion US foreign aid budget, passed in a 30-0 vote in a sign of growing outrage here over Afridi’s conviction.

“We need Pakistan, Pakistan needs us, but we don’t need Pakistan double-dealing and not seeing the justice in bringing Osama bin Laden to an end,” said Republican senator Lindsey Graham, who pressed for the measure.

The mammoth appropriations bill, which includes a total of $1 billion in assistance for Pakistan, will go now to the Senate floor after passing out of committee on Thursday.

The reduction represents a 58 per cent cut in the amount of aid President Barack Obama had requested for Pakistan.

The United States has given Pakistan more than $18 billion in assistance since the September 11, 2001 attacks, but US officials have persistent concerns that some elements of the establishment have maintained support for extremists.

http://dawn.com/2012/05/25/treatment-of-pakistan-doctor-unjust-unwarranted-clinton/

BBC News – Pakistan court orders ‘memogate’ inquiry

30 December 2011. Pakistan’s Supreme Court has set up an inquiry into a controversial unsigned memo that asked for US help in curbing the powers of the military.

The court said a panel of four high court judges would conclude its findings within a month.

The “memogate” scandal concerns a note allegedly sent from Pakistan’s political leadership to US Admiral Mike Mullen, via a former ambassador.

President Asif Ali Zardari’s aides deny any links with the document.

Pakistan’s civilian leaders were allegedly worried that the army was about to launch a coup after US forces killed Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad in May.

They say any court inquiry into the affair would be unnecessary and politically motivated. The government argues that a parliamentary committee is already looking into memogate.

Correspondents say Friday’s ruling will put additional pressure on the government and could even lead to President Zardari’s fall from power if a link is established.

“I think that this is one of the darkest days in history for the judiciary,” said a lawyer for Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani – who denies any role in the affair.

“I said in the Supreme Court too that this is a very disappointing judgement. This is a judgement that places national security above fundamental rights,” lawyer Asma Jahangir said.

Earlier this week President Zardari accused Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry of failing to investigate the murder of his wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

He was addressing party supporters on the anniversary of Ms Bhutto’s killing.

He pointed to a hearing the Supreme Court opened over the leaked memo as proof the court has been inconsistent.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16366386

Dawn – Abbottabad panel summons Sheikh Rashid

Islamabad: The commission investigating the May 2 US operation in Abbottabad that killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has called former federal minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed to appear before it on Dec 13, Dawn has learnt.

Last week, the commission headed by Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal expanded its scope of work and summoned former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani and PML-N legislator Khwaja Asif on December 14.

Sheikh Rashid, who served as information minister during the Musharraf regime, confirmed to Dawn that he had been summoned to apprise members of the commission of his perception about the Abbottabad operation.

He said the notice showed that he had been invited along with some other people.

The commission has already interviewed several high-ranking officials from armed forces, intelligence agencies, police, the National Database and Registration Authority and other government departments.

The members of the commission are Lt-Gen (retd) Nadeem Ahmed, former inspector general of police Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Abbas Khan and former ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi.

They have twice visited Abbottabad and inspected the compound where Bin Laden had allegedly been residing with his family.

The commission interviewed some local people and recorded the statements of wives and daughters of Bin Laden before granting them permission to leave Pakistan.

http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/04/abbottabad-panel-summons-rashid.html