Lawyer defending doctor who helped nab Bin Laden quits amid death threats

The lawyer defending a Pakistani doctor jailed after helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden is quitting the case because of death threats and alleged U.S. interference in the trial, the lawyer said Saturday.

"I am getting threats on a regular basis. Not only is my life in danger, my family is also in danger. I have therefore decided to quit," lawyer Samiullah Afridi said.

Afridi has been representing Dr. Shakil Afridi, who was jailed for 33 years for running a fake vaccination campaign in which he collected DNA samples that are believed to have helped the American intelligence agency finally pinpoint bin Laden after more than a decade of searching.

U.S. officials have hailed Afridi as a hero for helping pinpoint the fugitive Al-Qaeda chief before the secret May 2011 raid by U.S. Navy Seals in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Afridi's sentence was later overturned. He is still in jail and undergoing a retrial, but his lawyer said the U.S. government was unduly interfering.

"The government of America is putting a lot of pressure on the Pakistani government for the release of Dr. Shakil Afridi," he said. "Our mission and our wish also was to get him released, but our courts are free and they have to work according to a set procedure. I therefore did not like America's unjustified pressure."

A U.S. embassy spokeswoman was not immediately able to comment on the allegations.

But the raid — and Afridi's jail sentence — severely strained relations between the United States and Pakistan, its nominal ally.

Pakistan's army was furious that the United States had mounted a military operation on its soil without advance warning. In turn, some U.S. leaders were suspicious that Pakistani security forces may have helped shield bin Laden.

After it emerged that Afridi had run a fake vaccination campaign as part of an effort to help the CIA find bin Laden, Pakistani authorities jailed him for alleged links to illegal armed groups.

The sentence provoked outrage in the United States and the government cut a symbolic $33 million from its aid package to Pakistan.

Several armed groups, including the Taliban, have threatened to kill Afridi if he is ever released.

Al Jazeera and Reuters