CNN
By HABIBULLAH KHAN
Oct. 6, 2011
The Pakistani commission probing the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May has recommended that a doctor who helped the CIA find the al Qaeda leader be tried for treason.
Dr. Shakil Afridi allegedly conducted a fake vaccine program on behalf of U.S. intelligence, going to door-to-door in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where bin Laden lived in a high-walled compound, in hopes of collecting DNA samples. The New York Times reported in July that an American official said Afridi was able to get access to the bin Laden family's compound, but did not get DNA samples from bin Laden family members and did not see the al Qaeda leader.
The commission is questioning Afridi, who worked for the local government, and who was arrested after the May 2 Navy SEAL raid that killed bin Laden, in hopes of learning more about the free vaccination program he launched prior to the raid.
In a statement, the commission said "prima facie, a case of conspiracy against the state of Pakistan and high treason is made out against him," and that "case under relevant law" should be mounted against him. If convicted of treason, Afridi could hang. The commission, headed by a former Pakistani Supreme Court justice, also includes a former UN diplomat, a retired general and a former police official.
PHOTO: ABC News has learned that before he died Osama Bin Laden was secretly urging Al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, Al Shabaab, to target the United States
The commission is investigating both how the U.S. was able to raid bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, which is close to the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, without detection, and also how bin Laden was able to hide in the city. The bin Laden residence was less than a mile from Pakistan's leading military academy.
In July, a CIA spokesperson declined to comment to ABC News on the alleged vaccination program. On Thursday, a U.S. official told ABC News that the U.S. has "repeatedly" asked the Pakistani government to release Afridi.
To me, this is just further evidence that Pakistani authorities, some if not all, knew the whereabouts of Bin Laden, or else they would be congratulating this Doctor not trying to punish him.
