Dr Afridi to be charged for anti-state activities

March 21, 2014 06:51 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 09:21 pm IST - ISLAMABAD

The Frontier Crimes Regulation Commissioner Munir Azam has directed the political agent of Khyber Agency to further adduce evidence in consultation with concerned intelligence agencies and prepare a case against Dr Shakeel Afridi to be filed in a competent court of law.

The political agent was directed to examine Dr Afridi's involvement in activities against the state in collaboration with foreign intelligence agencies. In a detailed order, Mr. Azam said there was ample evidence collected by the Joint Interrogation Team against Dr Afridi regarding his involvement in activities against the state. He said the trial court has not dilated upon this, citing reasons of want of jurisdiction and had recommended that the Dr Afridi may be produced before the relevant court for further proceedings under the law.

Dr Afridi's lawyer Samiullah Afridi told The Hindu on the phone from Peshawar that the detailed order was only made available on Friday. Last week, on March 15, Mr. Azam reduced Dr Afridi's 33- year sentence by ten years and also his Rs 3.2 lakh fine by Rs one lakh on a technicality. Dr Afridi who was convicted for his links with a banned terror group Lashkar i Islam in 2012 was suspected of helping the CIA track down Osama Bin Laden in Abbotabad under cover as part of a polio immunization programme in 2011.

The lawyer said that his demand for a re- trial was not considered at all. There is no time frame set for the preparation of fresh charges, he added. Mr. Azam has ruled out a re- trial saying the remedy lies in appeal. He also said the defence counsels failed to give substantive grounds for setting aside the decision of the lower court and also pointed fingers at the defence for not making a strong enough case for the acquittal of Dr Afridi. Though arrested for helping the CIA, he was charged with links with a banned terrorist organization Lashkar i Islam and convicted for 33 years initially.

Mr. Afridi had earlier demanded the setting aside of the sentence and a retrial in a plea to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) tribunal which had sent the case to the Commissioner, who is also the appellate authority. But instead of reviewing the case and passing an order on re- trial, the commissioner reduced the sentence and the fine, Mr. Afridi said, adding that a fresh plea for a re-trial would be presented to the FATA tribunal.

On August 29, 2013 the Frontier Crimes Regulation commissioner in Peshawar Sahebzada Anees ur Rehman who later died in a mysterious fire in Islamabad in last October, had set aside the trial and sentencing of Dr Afridi. In December 2013, a FATA tribunal in Peshawar disposed of a review petition filed by Dr Afridi seeking a trial by a sessions judge. The three- member tribunal which reviewed the case asked the FCR commissioner to clarify his predecessor's order. The tribunal held that the Commissioner in his order in August overturning the sentence was ambiguous about who should conduct a fresh trial in the case and sought clarity on whether it should be by a political agent or a sessions judge.

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