A senior judicial official in Pakistan has overturned the 33-year jail sentence against the doctor who helped the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency track down Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
Sahibzada Mohammad Anees, the Peshawar-based Frontier Crimes Regulation Commissioner, also ordered a retrial of the doctor, Shakil Afridi.
Anees ruled on August 29 that the Khyber tribal agency judge who originally heard Afridi's case last year was not authorized to do so.
Afridi was convicted and sentenced in 2012 for links with Islamic militants.
The ruling angered U.S. officials, who view Afridi as a hero for helping to track down Bin Laden by running a fake vaccination campaign in Abbottabad where the Al-Qaeda leader was hiding.
Washington responded by withholding $33 million in funds that had been earmarked as aid for Pakistan.
Sahibzada Mohammad Anees, the Peshawar-based Frontier Crimes Regulation Commissioner, also ordered a retrial of the doctor, Shakil Afridi.
Anees ruled on August 29 that the Khyber tribal agency judge who originally heard Afridi's case last year was not authorized to do so.
Afridi was convicted and sentenced in 2012 for links with Islamic militants.
The ruling angered U.S. officials, who view Afridi as a hero for helping to track down Bin Laden by running a fake vaccination campaign in Abbottabad where the Al-Qaeda leader was hiding.
Washington responded by withholding $33 million in funds that had been earmarked as aid for Pakistan.