RAWALPINDI: Dr Sha­keel Afridi, the physician who allegedly helped the US Central Intelligence Agency in tracking Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in an Abbottabad compound through a vaccination campaign and who had been under detention since 2011 for his links to a banned militant group, was on Sunday shifted from Adiala jail to Sahiwal jail for security reasons.

A senior official of Adiala jail told Dawn that the high-profile prisoner was taken from Rawalpindi to Sahiwal in a helicopter in the morning.

Security was beefed up inside and outside Adiala jail when he was being moved from there, he added.

In Sahiwal, a large contingent of law enforcement personnel was seen moving in the early hours of Sunday. Over 100 security personnel were seen along the routes that led to the high-security prison located in the middle of Sahiwal city.

This is for the second time that Dr Afridi has been shifted from one jail to another. He was imprisoned at Peshawar jail before he was moved to Adiala jail in April this year.

The official said family members of Dr Afridi, including his wife, son and daughter, met him in the jail on Aug 3 with the permission of the Punjab home department. He said the basic reason for shifting the high-profile prisoner to Sahiwal jail was security.

“Sahiwal jail was re-constructed for prisoners who were facing terrorism charges and allegedly involved in helping terrorist activities,” he said.

He said Sahiwal jail was reconstructed after the launch of National Action Plan by the previous federal government.

Soon after killing of Al Qeada chief in a raid by US Navy Seals on the Abbottabad compound in May 2011, Dr Afridi was taken into custody.

He was accused of sharing information with American officials about the presence of Bin Laden in the heavily guarded compound. But he was never tried on such charges.

Dr Afridi was tried and convicted in a treason case in May 2012 under the Frontier Crime Regulation and awarded 33 years imprisonment.

Later, the sentence was reduced to 10 years by the FCR Commissioner.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s stalwart Mohammad Hanif Abbasi has been shifted from the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC) to Adiala jail after doctors declared his condition stable. Mr Abbasi had been rushed to RIC on his complaint of chest pain a few days ago.

Doctors had conducted angioplasty of Mr Abbasi and implanted a stent. Mr Abbasi is completing his life sentence in Adiala jail after a court convicted him in the ephedrine smuggling case.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2018