Pakistan doctor was not jailed for helping CIA, new court paper claims

A PAKISTANI doctor who helped the United States find Osama bin Laden was imprisoned for aiding militants and not for his links to the CIA, according to a court document released yesterday.

A court in the Khyber tribal region near the Afghan border jailed Shakil Afridi for 33 years last week. Pakistani officials said the decision was based on treason charges for aiding the CIA in its hunt for the al-Qaeda chief.

But the judgment document made available to the media yesterday says Afridi was jailed because of his close ties to the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Islam.