PESHAWAR: The Commissioner of Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) Captain retd Munir Azam, while announcing judgment in the Dr Shakil Afridi detention case on Saturday, reduced his conviction by 10 years and also reduced the fine by Rs 1 million.

Earlier, Afridi’s lawyers had appealed to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) tribunal for removal of the sentence which was then submitted to the Commissioner FCR for review.

The Commissioner FCR, who is the Commissioner of Peshawar Division, upheld the old judgment but removed one Clause 123 A and reviewed the jail term and the fine.

On the occasion, the accused’s counsel Samiullah Afridi said the decision was unexpected and that they would appeal against it in the Fata tribunal.

Dr Shakil’s lawyer added that they had not demanded a review of the verdict but that they wanted a fresh trial in the case.

Afridi had allegedly helped the CIA by running a fake vaccination campaign in Abbottabad a month before the US forces raid on a compound that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011.

He was sentenced to 33 years in prison and fined Rs320,000 on charges of colluding with Lashkar-i-Islam (LI) and its chief Mangal Bagh in 2012.

However, the tribal court had not entertained evidence relating to Dr Shakil Afridi’s involvement with the CIA, citing lack of jurisdiction.

His sentence was overturned last year in August and a retrial was ordered.