'Osama doc' Afridi was denied asylum in US, reveals report

Jailed Pakistani doctor, Shakil Afridi, who helped the US track down Osama bin Laden, had applied for asylum in the US but was denied by authorities, according to a classified Pakistani government report.

The 357-page Abbottobad Commission Report, which has yet to be made public, said also that Afridi was convicted by a tribal court on bogus charges, and that it has undermined Pakistan's credibility. The report calls for Afridi to be given a new trial, reports Fox News.

The report also claims Afridi joined the CIA search for Bin Laden five years ago, while he was staying in the US with a cousin. According to the report, Afridi applied for asylum after a terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Islam, stepped up its operations in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt.

The State Department declined to comment on the report's claims that Afridi had applied for asylum while staying in the US.

Afridi was reportedly kidnapped by the group in 2008 and released after his family paid a 10,000-dollar ransom. After helping the CIA pinpoint the terror mastermind just prior to the 2011 raid in which Navy SEALs killed Bin laden, Afridi was arrested and convicted by the tribal court of colluding with Lashkar-e-Islam.

The commission report acknowledges Afridi was subjected to harsh treatment in prison, and moved several times to various undisclosed locations by Pakistan's spy agency.

Afridi, who helped confirm the Al Qaeda leader's presence in an Abbottabad compound, lived for a short period in San Francisco in 2009, according to the report.

Afridi is currently serving a 33-year jail term, and is appealing his conviction.