Islamabad, May 24, IRNA – A Pakistani doctor, who was accused of helping the CIA to reach Osama bin Laden, was handed down 33-year rigorous imprisonment, official sources have said.

Dr Shakil Afridi was accused of running a CIA-sponsored fake vaccine programme in Abbottabad, where Bin Laden was killed last year in May, to try to get DNA samples.

A Pakistani commission investigating the US raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, had called for Afridi trial over high treason.

Sources said that Afridi was awarded jail term under the tribal laws, known as Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR). The British-era FCR is still effective in Pakistan’s tribal regions.

Afridi was sent to main prison in the northwestern city of Peshawar, sources said.

The government has already sacked him from services and other nursing staff who worked on his instruction.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta admitted in January that Afridi had helped American intelligence by collecting DNA to verify the al-Qaeda chief’s presence.

Washington has been arguing that Dr Afridi should be freed and allowed to live in the US.

A group of U.S. lawmakers had requested the Obama administration to give highest award to Afridi for helping the US.

There had been no official confirmation if any DNA from Bin Laden or any family members was ever obtained.

A government commission, headed by a former Supreme Court judge, has been investigating how the US military carried out operation within Pakistan without the knowledge of security agencies.

The panel has also been tasked how Osama bin Laden was able to hide in Abbottabad for nearly five years.

The panel had also questioned Dr Afridi and after interrogation, it had proposed to the government to put him on trial over high treason charges as his action was amount to conspiracy against the State of Pakistan.

The CIA had also confirmed that it had set up a center in Abbotabad after receiving information about the presence of the al-Qaeda chief there.