Jail Term Cut for Doctor Who Helped US Find Bin Laden

The compound where Osama Bin laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan.REUTERS

A jail sentence handed down to a doctor who helped the US track down Osama Bin Laden has been cut by 10 years.

Shakil Afridi was accused of setting up a fake vaccination programme to confirm Bin Laden's location in the northern Pakistan town of Abbottabad.

His original 33-year-sentence on a charge of being a member of a militant group was widely interpreted as a punishment from Pakistani authorities for his role helping the US locate the al-Qaida leader.

Bin Laden was killed by US special forces in a raid on his compound in 2011. His body was then flown out by helicopter and buried at sea.

After the raid, relations between the Pakistan and US governments worsened, as Pakistan had not been informed that the raid was due to take place, causing authorities acute embarrassment.

Afridi was originally sentenced by a court in a tribal area in May 2012.

Following appeals from his family and the US, a Peshawar court cut his sentence to 23 years.

Afridi's lawyer, Qamar Nadeem, said a charge that his client had waged war with Pakistan had been dropped.

Nadeem said Afridi may appeal further to a higher tribal court, and that he denied helping the CIA.