Dr Shakeel Afridi, who was imprisoned for his alleged links to a banned militant group, was shifted to Sahiwal jail on Sunday for security reasons, sources told DawnNewsTV.

This is the second such switch this year. Dr Afridi had been imprisoned at Peshawar Jail before he was shifted in April 2018 to Adiala Jail.

The sources said his wife, daughter and son met him at Adiala Jail on August 3.

Dr Afridi had been taken into custody soon after the killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden by US commandos in Abbottabad in May 2011.

He was accused of helping the CIA track down the Al Qaeda leader in Abbottabad. However, he was never tried on charges of helping the CIA track down Osama.

Dr Afridi was tried and convicted in a treason case in May 2012 under the Frontier Crimes Regulation and sentenced to 33 years in prison. The sentence was later reduced to 10 years by the FCR commissioner.