Congressional and private activists lobbying to free the doctor who helped the CIA pinpoint Usama Bin Laden have won assurances from Pakistan’s prime minister that his government will reconsider the case, Fox News has learned.
In a rare and carefully stage-managed private meeting between a world leader, congressional representatives and a non-government individual during a closed-door official House of Representatives event in Washington, the newly elected Nawaz Sharif committed to task his top law officials with reviewing the prosecution process for Dr. Shakil Afridi, according to those who attended the impromptu meeting.
If sincere, the pledge would be the first time that Afridi would receive anything resembling credible judicial attention after he was tortured and given a 33-year jail sentence on trumped up charges as punishment for aiding the United States.
Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., together with Robert Lorsch of the Free Afridi Campaign heavily pressured the Pakistani leadership about releasing the doctor and allowing him a life in the United States.
“My message to them was: ‘What they do with Dr. Afridi is how Pakistan will be judged as a democracy by the rest of the world,'” Lorsch told Fox News in an interview.
The tight-knit …read more
Source: U.S. Rep. Ed Royce
