Doctor Who Helped US Find Osama Gets Retrial

Prison sentence in Pakistan overturned

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A senior judicial official on Thursday overturned the prison sentence of a Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA find Osama bin Laden and ordered his retrial, citing procedural problems with the initial trial.

The official, Sahibzada Mohammad Anis, issued the ruling because the person who sentenced Dr. Shakil Afridi to 33 years in prison was not authorized to hear the case, said Feroz Shah, a government administrator.

Afridi was convicted in May 2012 of "conspiring against the state" by giving money and providing medical treatment to Islamic militants in Pakistan's Khyber tribal area, not for helping the CIA track down bin Laden. The doctor's family and the militants denied the allegations.