ISLAMABAD, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- The Pakistani doctor sent to prison for helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden had his conviction overturned Thursday and will get a new trial.
Sahibzada Muhammad Anis, who presided over the appellate court hearing for Dr. Shakil Afridi, ruled that the tribal court judge who found the physician guilty had exceeded his authority when he sentenced him to 33 years in prison in May 2012, The New York Times reported. Afridi has been jailed in Peshawar.
Qamar Nadeem, a cousin of Afridi, told the U.S. newspaper in a telephone interview that he expected the retrial to begin in three or four days.
"Earlier, Shakil Afridi was a convict," Nadeem said. "Now, he is again an accused."
Officially, Afridi was convicted of aiding a banned Islamist group, though it was generally seen as punishment for helping the U.S. intelligence agency find bin Laden at a compound in Abbottabad, where the al-Qaida leader was killed in a U.S. Navy SEAL raid in May 2011.
Leon Panetta, who was director of the CIA when bin Laden was killed, confirmed last year Afridi played a role in the search for bin Laden.
The U.S. Congress cut American aid to Pakistan by $33 million following the doctor's imprisonment.
