Pakistani doctor jailed for Treason - helping a foreign intelligence agency

[karan.1970]

Pakistani doctor jailed for helping CIA find Osama bin Laden - The Times of India

PESHAWAR: A Pakistani doctor accused of helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden has been jailed for 33 years for treason, television channels and a local government official said.

The official said Shakil Afridi was accused of running a fake vaccination campaign believed to have helped the American intelligence agency track bin Laden in a Pakistani town, where he was killed in a US special forces raid last May.

The imprisonment is likely to anger ally Washington at a sensitive time, with both sides engaged in difficult talks over re-opening NATO supply routes to US-led troops in Afghanistan.

US officials had hoped Pakistan, a recipient of billions of dollars in American aid, would release Afridi, detained after the unilateral operation which killed bin Laden and strained ties with Islamabad.

In January, US defense secretary Leon Panetta said in a television interview that Afridi and his team had been key in finding bin Laden, describing him as helpful and insisting the doctor had not committed treason or harmed Pakistan.

 

[notsuperstitious]

They should have invoked the world famous doctrine of necessity and pardoned the good guy who helped the entire humanity get rid of that mass murderer osama bin laden.

 

[Rusty]

Dude committed treason, now paying the price.
move along people, nothing to see here.

 

[karan.1970]

I see a chapter written in western books on this dude now.. Wont be surprised if he attains the level of the likes of Mendala or Suu Kyi...

 

[Bane]

This is the fate of traitors. I don't care if shaytan himself was hiding in Pakistan, you cannot help a
foreign nation in murder on your soil. End of story.

Indians shutup and Americans go home.

 

[Rang De]

Instead, he should have been given nishan-e-pakistan for his contribution in defeating terrorism.

Pakistanis should be proud of him.

 

[VCheng]

Dr. Afridi will be traded as a bargaining chip at the correct time. His sentencing was timed on cue given the negotiations going on presently over the supply routes.

In the meantime, his punishment will be used to further deteriorate Pakistan's already battered image in the international media.

 

[GoodBoy]

The doc did a great job for humanity and heck handed over jail from his own countrymen.

 

[laiqs@mi]

I see a chapter written in western books on this dude now.. Wont be surprised if he attains the level of the likes of Mendala or Suu Kyi...

we dont care what he attains in west but in pakistan he will be among Mir sadiq and mir Jaffar.

 

[notsuperstitious]

Pakistan pardoned AQ Khan who sold national secrets for money that could have and still may lead to millions of deaths and catastrophes!

The same yardstick could have been applied. Hurt ego is nothing compared to millions dead. Atleast in most of civilised world.

 

[fd24]

They should have invoked the world famous doctrine of necessity and pardoned the good guy who helped the entire humanity get rid of that mass murderer osama bin laden.

The outcome was predictable.

He committed treason - the definition of treason being " Violation of allegiance toward one's country or sovereign, especially the betrayal of one's country by waging war against it or by consciously and purposely acting to aid its enemies."

Now whats important is NOT to look at the eventual outcome of his actions but to look at what he was put on trial for.
To allow him to walk away after committing treason would clearly send out the wrong signal.
I am sure any sovereign nation would not allow one of its citizens to walk away after this. He betrayed his nation and most importantly those people that he conned into his false "medical screening" he was carrying out.
I believe he has got off lightly and shame on the ones that encouraged his treason and then leaving him at the peril of the nation he conned....

 

[graphican]

It would've been a lot better if he was hanged till death but he deserves a painful experience for deceiving his own Nation.

 

[Leviza]

It would've been a lot better if he was hanged till death but he deserves a painful experience for deceiving his own Nation.

His punishment is enough for his part in deceiving his own nation, but i still think he should be hanged till death for putting innocent kids at risk with this fake polio thing he did...

 

[COLDHEARTED AVIATOR]

If Pakistan is really the biggest ally of USA in the war on terrorism then they would have rewarded him.

 

[fd24]

If Pakistan is really the biggest ally of USA in the war on terrorism then they would have rewarded him.

You are missing the issue. We are not questioning the outcome of what happened due to him committing treason. He was put on trial for deceiving the nation he aspires to be a part of and deceiving his own countrymen by setting up a fake polio vaccination campaign. How would you like it if he did this in your nation. The eventual outcome is a secondary issue and of no significance.
Highest form or treason against his nation and fellow countrymen. Lucky he hasn't been sentenced to death.