[5] On 23 May 2012, he was sentenced to 33 years' imprisonment for treason, initially believed to be in connection with the bin Laden raid, but later revealed to be due to alleged ties with a local Islamist warlord Mangal Bagh.
[11] During PM Imran Khan's visit to Washington DC, in July 2019, in his interview with an American Channel he indicated Shakil Afridi could be released in exchange for Aafia Siddiqui.
Considered an American hero by many who believe his actions were altruistic, Afridi is currently serving a 33-year sentence in a Pakistani jail, convicted of charges unrelated to his alleged CIA connections.
[16][17][18] On 6 October 2011, the Pakistani commission investigating bin Laden's death recommended that he be charged with "conspiracy against the state of Pakistan and high treason" on the basis of available evidence.
[20] The fifteen male and female health workers who assisted Afridi in the fake hepatitis vaccination program were also declared not fit for any future employment.
[21] Pakistani investigators said in a July 2012 report that Afridi met 25 times with "foreign secret agents, received instructions and provided sensitive information to them.
[27] In March 2014, Waad ur Rahman, an Express Tribune blogger argued that through a fair trial, Afridi would also have a chance to defend why he did not disclose the location of bin Laden to Pakistani authorities.
[29][30] On 30 May 2012, Afridi was sentenced to 33 years in prison for aiding banned militant group Lashkar-e-Islam and not for his links to the CIA, as officials had said earlier, according to a court document.
[34][35] On 29 August 2013, senior Pakistani judicial official Sahibzada Mohammad Anis issued a ruling that overturned Afridi's sentence and ordered him a retrial.
[39] In late November 2012 Pakistani news provider, The Express Tribune, reported that Afridi had gone on a hunger strike protesting his prison conditions in the Peshawar jail.
"[40] In September 2012, Dominic Di-Natale, an Islamabad-based correspondent and Sib Kaifee, a producer/reporter for Fox News claimed that they had interviewed Afridi by phone from inside the jail and spoke to him thrice between five and 45 minutes.
[41] The U.S. Secretary of Defense, who was then former CIA Chief Leon Panetta, has confirmed the role of Afridi in ascertaining the whereabouts of bin Laden inside the compound in Abbottabad.
[42] The U.S. representative for California's 48th congressional district, Dana Rohrabacher asked President Barack Obama to intercede on Afridi's behalf,[43] introduced two bills, H.R.
[48] In June 2011, it was reported in The New York Times, The Washington Post and all over the Pakistani press that Amir Aziz had been held for questioning in Pakistan; he was, it was said, a CIA informant who had been spying on the comings and goings at the bin Laden compound.
It was soon reported that the CIA had organised a fake vaccination programme in Abbottabad with Afridi's help in a failed attempt to obtain bin Laden's DNA.
The retired official said that Afridi had been recruited long before the bin Laden mission as part of a separate intelligence effort to get information about suspected terrorists in Abbottabad and the surrounding area.
[53][54] May 2012 the Access to Justice Through Legal Aid and Welfare Organisation Peshawar named a panel of lawyers to defend Dr Afridi in his appeal against his conviction.
Local residents have also told AFP that Mangal Bagh fined Afridi for performing "unnecessary surgeries and over-charging" patients at his private clinic in the town of Bara.