US cuts $33 million in aid to Pakistan over Osama bin Laden doctor sentence

However, after being ordered to focus his efforts on one house in the days
before the May 2 raid to kill bin Laden, he asked his CIA handler “Peter”,
via satellite phone, for a payment of $10,000.

“He knew they were looking for someone. When the search homed in on one
house he asked for more money, which he was paid,” said Brigadier Qadir.

“So he knew it was someone important and he may have had suspicions but
he was never told it was bin Laden.”

Dr Afridi is expected to appeal against his sentence, which was handed down
under Pakistan’s tribal justice system, a hangover from British colonial
rule.

The handling of the case has been criticised by the US, where many suspect
that at best Pakistan has dragged its feet over seeking out foreign
militants and at worst has protected al-Qaeda figures.

Dr Afridi is being held in solitary confinement at Peshawar Central Prison, in
north-west Pakistan. Officials said he was “weak and depressed”,
and was given medicine for a stomach complaint by doctors.

Samad Khan, a prison official, said: “He has been kept away from other
prisoners to avert any danger to his life.” Dr Afridi’s wife and three
children have disappeared from their home in the Khyber tribal area and are
believed to be in hiding.

Congressman Peter King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee,
said the Obama administration had doomed Dr Afridi by leaking details of the
vaccination ruse to the media. “They put him out there,” said Mr
King. “I’m focused on that they disclosed his identity.”

The countries also remain at loggerheads over allowing Nato supply convoys to
use Pakistani roads to reach Afghanistan. Pakistan has blocked passage since
a US air strike killed 24 of its soldiers in November.

A Pakistani government spokesman yesterday insisted that the US should respect
the conviction because “it was in accordance with Pakistani laws and by
the Pakistani courts”.

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