Doctor in Bin Laden hunt accused of murder

KARACHI, Pakistan — A Pakistani doctor who helped the United States track down Osama bin Laden faces charges in a murder case after a woman accused him of causing the death of her son, a defense lawyer said.

A court in the Khyber tribal region along the border with Afghanistan has registered a case based on the complaint by the wom- an against t he doctor, Shakil Afridi, his lawyer Samiullah Afridi said.

Afridi already is imprisoned after being sentenced to 33 years in 2012 for providing funding and medical assistance to the militants of the nowdefunct group Lashkar- Shakil Afridi e- Islami. He hasn’t been charged for covert ties to the U. S. Central Intelligence Agency that the Pakistani government denounced.

U.S. and Pakistani officials have said Afridi ran a fake vaccination program in Abbottabad, the Pakistani town where bin Laden hid for as long as five years, in a bid to obtain a DNA sample from those living in the compound where bin Laden was shot dead by Navy SEALs in 2011.

The Obama administration has criticized Afridi’s conviction and has pushed Pakistan to release the doctor. The issue was again raised during Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s official visit to the U.S. in October.

An appeals court has set aside the conviction for aiding militants and has ordered a rehearing, according to the lawyer.