The US today said the overturning of the 33-year jail term given to Shakeel Afridi, the doctor who helped the CIA track Osama Bin Laden, should lead to an outcome which reflects that action against the Al Qaeda chief was in Pakistan's interests.
"We hope this latest development leads to an outcome that reflects the fact that bringing Osama bin Laden to justice was clearly in Pakistan's interests as well as ours," said State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf.
"We continue to believe, of course, that the prosecution and conviction of Dr Afridi sends exactly the wrong message about the importance of this shared interest," Harf told reporters.
Afridi is set to face a fresh trial after a Pakistani official yesterday overturned the jail term given to him. He is currently being held in a jail in Peshawar.
Harf said she would not use the words welcome or pleased for the latest developments in Afridi's case.
"We have seen the reports that Dr Afridi's sentence was overturned. Our position on Dr Afridi has long been clear. We regret both that he was convicted and the severity of his sentence," she said.
"We hope this latest development leads to an outcome that reflects the fact that we believe this was in both of our shared interests. I know there's a process, and I just don't want to get ahead of it," Harf said.
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, applauded Pakistan's decision to throw out Afridi's conviction as "a big step in the right direction".
"This heroic doctor should never have been charged with a crime in the first place. This at least gives Pakistan a chance to redeem itself," he said.
"Hopefully Pakistan will take a second look and totally free Dr Afridi. Until then, Congress must assume that Pakistan has a government hostile to the United States."
Rohrabacher applauded diplomatic efforts and the hard work and commitment of American citizens who had stood up for Afridi, who helped bring to justice the terrorist mastermind behind 9/11.
"Sometimes our government speaks softly, but every American patriot has demanded that Dr Afridi not be abandoned," he said.
Bin Laden was killed in 2011 in an unilateral US military raid in Abbottabad, where Afridi ran a fake vaccination campaign to help the CIA track the Al Qaeda chief.
