Pakistan jails doctor who helped CIA find Osama bin Laden - 33 year sentence

[chessdev.livejournal.com]

http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/23/11827022-pakistan-jails-doctor-who-helped-cia-find-osama-bin-laden?lite

Updated at 8:18 a.m. ET: PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- A Pakistani doctor accused of helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden was convicted of high treason and sentenced to 33 years in prison on Wednesday.

Shakil Afridi ran a vaccination program for the American intelligence agency to collect DNA and verify bin Laden's presence at the compound in the town of Abbottabad, where he was killed last May by U.S. commandos.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has previously called for Afridi to be released, saying his work served Pakistani and American interests.

---

Afridi was also ordered to pay a fine of about $3,500, Nasir Khan, a government official in the Khyber tribal area, told The Associated Press. If he doesn't pay, he will spend another three and half years in prison, Khan said.

His 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 U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan.

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

In January, 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

[chessdev]  WTF!?!?   Allegedly these guys are our allies in the "War on Terror".  And they sure are quick to accept billions of dollars in American aid, including after several earthquakes... BUT we find Bin Laden virtually down the street from their government AND they're going out of their way to punish people who helped get Bin Laden???

My first thought for balancing the budget would be to withdraw some of the aid we're giving that government -- if they're going to take our money and still try to screw us over, then let's give it to OUR causes and let *those* screw us over instead...

Or is there some rationale that isnt as sinister as I'm thinking for why they would sentence this guy so harshly?

Comments

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

Relations between Pakistan and the US have been complicated since the country was founded. Pakistan has been used as a pawn time and again in efforts to pressure their neighbors to act in the interest of the US. They are also a long-time strategic ally of Big Bro China.

I sympathize somewhat with Pakistan on sentencing the man to hard time. He was caught collecting biometric data on Pakistani citizens for an foreign intelligence agency. He is lucky he did not receive a more severe sentence. I expect they may try to use him as a hostage in future negotiations.

[lurkerwisp.livejournal.com]

That second part there really sums up what I'm thinking on this topic. At the heart of the matter a doctor used his position as a medical professional to deceptively collect information for a foreign government. While yes, the outcome may have been a good thing for the US, the ends don't really justify the means.

Imagine if you (general you, not you, sophia_sadek ;) ) went to your doctor for a routine exam and later found out that your doctor had collected DNA samples to send out of the country to determine if you're a foreign criminal. Even if you're not that foreign criminal, that's a pretty severe invasion of privacy for your own government to just ignore.

[chessdev.livejournal.com]

So how would that justify "Treason" charges?

and 33 years no less?

[dwer.livejournal.com]

Spying for another country is usually considered treason.

[cheezyfish.livejournal.com]

Doesn't that require some sort of actually spying on ones own country to be considered treason? The doctor wasn't spying on Pakistan, he was spying on terrorist networks.

[dwer.livejournal.com]

I think the Pakistani view on this may be a bit less nuanced.

[cheezyfish.livejournal.com]

I couldn't imagine a American citizen being tried for treason for helping, say Mexico, find a fugitive hiding in the US that planned massed killings of Mexicans in Mexico. I can't conceive of any law that would break?

[dwer.livejournal.com]

Spying is illegal. If it involves spying, then, well, there you go.

Also -- we're not talking about US law.

[cheezyfish.livejournal.com]

It is in the US of course, because he have certain rights protecting privacy. But as you said, we aren't talking US law. I was just responding to the statement of Any American citizen who did the same would almost certainly be charged with treason too. mentioned earlier. Though I think the DNA thing would land a doctor in prison here in the US, but not over treason. I have no idea what the laws about privacy are in Pakistan though.

Also, here in America spying is mostly illegal if it violates someones privacy but something being illegal does not make it treason.

[dwer.livejournal.com]

Personal privacy has nothing to do with why spying is considered treason in the US.

[cheezyfish.livejournal.com]

Really? Spying is treason in the US, even if you are "spying" on a wanted fugitive? I would completely agree with you if we are limiting the spying being done to the state, but is there any cases where a U.S. citizen has been charged with treason for spying on an entity other than the state, or didn't involve state secrets? I don't know the answer to this question, so you should prove me wrong so I can get this out of my mind and agree with you. And if it turns out that you can and it has been done before, is that ethical?

[dwer.livejournal.com]

you're demonstrating a remarkable resistance to acknowleding the facts in this case.

This Pakistani doctor enabled US soldiers to violate Pakistani sovereignty and engage in a gunfight in a Pakistani city. HE WAS SPYING FOR THE UNITED STATES.

Members of the Bush administration have been found guilty of war crimes by international tribunals. Do you think that an American doctor who enabled a Canadian strike force to come in and attempt to arrest and then shoot Dick Cheney wouldn't be accused of treason?

[cheezyfish.livejournal.com]

This Pakistani doctor enabled US soldiers to violate Pakistani sovereignty and engage in a gunfight in a Pakistani city.

That is rather amazing that doctor could do that. I think he gave the CIA a phone number. Can you tell me how that enabled "US soldiers to violate Pakistani sovereignty and engage in a gunfight [with wanted terrorist] in a Pakistani city"? Did he like, sabotage Pakistani Radar so the US could get in undetected? He enabled no such thing. He found a fugitive to both the US and Pakistani governments. Hell he didn't even do that. He found his mail boy, and the doctor didn't even do it for an enemy of Pakistan! He did it for an ally.

Members of the Bush administration have been found guilty of war crimes by international tribunals. Do you think that an American doctor who enabled a Canadian strike force to come in and attempt to arrest and then shoot Dick Cheney wouldn't be accused of treason?

Since you couldn't see my face as I read that, I just rolled my eyes. And no further response is warranted to such an idiotic comparison. I think we are done here...

[dwer.livejournal.com]

well, ok. But facts are facts.

[cheezyfish.livejournal.com]

Though admittedly, probably should have reworded that question I can't conceive of any law that would break? to mention treason.

[cheezyfish.livejournal.com]

First, I wouldn't agree that giving a phone number of Bin Laden's message boy would put him in with conspiring to help a foreign nation breach the nation's borders.

2nd, I agree there isn't some comparison to U.S.-Pakistani law, at least that I know of. In fact, I don't know much about Pakistani law other than the fact I don't trust much of anything when it has "tribal" in the title. I was just responding to your statement Any American citizen who did the same would almost certainly be charged with treason too. I'm not sure if that would be true.