PESHAWAR: The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) tribunal on Monday received the record of the Dr Shakil Afridi case and fixed Aug 23 for arguments on his petition challenging the upholding of his conviction by an appellate forum for having links with militant outfits.
For the past two years, the petition of Dr Afridi — who was arrested in May 2011 on suspicion of helping the American CIA track down Osama bin Laden — has been lingering mostly because of the unavailability of the relevant record.
Following repeated notices by the three-member tribunal, which is the third and final judicial forum under the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), the record was finally produced by the tribal administration of Khyber Agency.
The tribunal comprising chairman Sange Marjan Khan and members Hussainzada Khan and Atif Nazir decided to hear arguments over his petition on the next date of hearing.
The FCR commissioner, which is the appellate forum under the FCR, had on March 15, 2014 upheld the conviction of Dr Afridi for being linked to a banned militant organisation of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency but reduced his original prison term slapped by the assistant political agent’s court from 33 years to 23 years and the fine from Rs320,000 to Rs220,000.
Through his revision petition, Dr Afridi challenged the decision of the commissioner.
The petitioner’s counsel, Qamar Nadeem, told Dawn that they had a good case and would argue it on the next hearing.
The tribunal also adjourned the hearing of a petition filed by the administration of Khyber Agency against the reduction of the sentence of Dr Afridi by the commissioner.
While some US lawmakers have reportedly been considering using aid cut to Pakistan to persuade the government to release Dr Afridi, no noteworthy progress has taken place in his case here.
Dr Afridi was taken into custody in May 2011 by intelligence agencies on suspicion of arranging a fake vaccination campaign at the behest of the CIA in Abbottabad. However, he was not convicted of that charge.
The assistant political agent, who is also the additional district magistrate of Bara, convicted him on May 23, 2012 for his involvement in anti-state activities by supporting the Bara-based Lashkar-i-Islam, and sentenced him on different counts to a total of 33 years imprisonment with a fine of Rs320,000.
The petitioner, Dr Afridi, claimed he was denied the right to fair trial and was convicted by the assistant political agent on “flimsy grounds”.
The petitioner has contended that the FCR commissioner had ignored several facts while upholding his conviction. He stated that earlier the commissioner was sent back the case by the tribunal for clarifying certain points, but instead of clarifying those points the commissioner upheld the decision of the assistant political agent.
Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2016
Waseem Ahmad Shah is a Peshawar-based reporter for Dawn with over three decades of experience reporting on legal issues, human rights, and the judiciary.
