PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- A Pakistani doctor who worked with U.S. intelligence in the hunt for Osama bin Laden was charged with killing a patient during surgery, prosecutors said.
Authorities in the Khyber Agency charged Dr. Shakil Afridi with murder for allegedly causing the death of a teenager during surgery eight years ago.
A hearing on the charges was scheduled for Dec. 20, Pakistan's DAWN news agency said Saturday.
The charges were based on a complaint filed five months ago by the patient's mother, who alleged Afridi had only been a general practitioner and not a qualified surgeon at the time.
Afridi worked with the CIA on a vaccination program in Abbottabad that was actually a front for an operation aimed at collecting DNA samples that could be used to identify bin Laden. His actions were hailed in the United States but the Los Angeles Times said many in Pakistan considered him a traitor for working with a foreign intelligence agency.
Afridi has been in jail since last year, awaiting a second trial on charges of assisting the banned group Army of Islam by providing money and medical care to the militants.
