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'Bin Laden Doctor' Charged With Murder


Samidullah Afridi (center), lawyer for Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi, said the charges relate to the death of a patient in 2006.
Samidullah Afridi (center), lawyer for Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi, said the charges relate to the death of a patient in 2006.
Pakistan has charged Shakil Afridi, the doctor who helped the United States locate Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, with murder in a case dating back to the mid-2000s.

Afridi's lawyer, Samidullah Afridi, said the charge relates to the death of a patient the doctor operated on in the Khyber tribal area in 2006. The mother of the deceased person filed the charge, claiming that Afridi performed the operation even though he was not a surgeon.

Afridi was arrested after U.S. Special Forces killed bin Laden in May 2011. Last year, he was sentenced to 33 years in prison for membership in the outlawed militant group Lashkar-e-Islam, a charge Afridi denied.

His sentence was overturned by a court last August and a new trial was ordered.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters

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