Lawyer for doctor in bin Laden operation killed in NW Pakistan
Police authorities in Pakistan say a former lawyer for the Pakistani doctor who helped Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents hunt former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, has been shot dead in Pakistan’s troubled northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The officials said unidentified assailants opened fire at the lawyer, identified as Samiullah Afridi, late Tuesday when he was returning to his home on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Peshawar, located approximately 190 kilometers (118 miles) northwest of the capital, Islamabad.
He was representing Dr. Shakil Afridi (seen below), who was convicted in May 2012 of “conspiring against the state” by giving money and providing medical treatment to militants, not for helping the CIA with a fake vaccination campaign to capture bin Laden. Afridi was initially sentenced to 33 years in jail, but the sentence was later commuted to 10 years.
The lawyer fled to the United Arab Emirates in December 2013 due to threats from militants, but had been occasionally visiting Pakistan while keeping a low profile.
Last year, Afridi announced that he had stopped working on the doctor’s case.
Senior police officer Shakir Khan said the lawyer had only recently returned to Pakistan after having spent three months abroad.
Pakistani security forces have launched an investigation to determine the motive behind the killing.
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) splinter group, Jundullah, later claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on Afridi.
a DNA test to officially confirm the identity of the corpse before its hasty burial.
MP/HJL/HRB
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