Pakistani Doctor Who Helped U.S. Find Bin Laden Is Reportedly Sentenced To 33 Years In Prison

The United States has long been criticized for disregarding the sovereign rights of Pakistan and other countries in launching drone attacks and military operations. Now, Pakistan has responded with a reported lengthy sentencing of the Pakistani doctor, Shakil Afridi, who helped track down Osama Bin Laden as guilty of “high treason.”

The “trial” and sentencing of the doctor is a farce and injustice. He was tried under the Frontier Crimes Regulations, or FCR. It denied him access to counsel and basic due process. American officials however appear doubly hypocritical in criticizing the lack of due process when the Bush Administration stripped detainees of the same rights and the Obama Administration still holds people at Gitmo without true legal process (as well as claiming the right to kill U.S. citizens without any trial or formal charge).

These sentences are handed down by a Khyber government official in consultation with a “council of government elders.” Of course, that is basically the same process described by the Obama Administration for the death panel in targeting U.S. citizens for assassination — except that the Age Discrimination Act limits the use of age in selecting government officials.

Source: BBC