A Pakistani judicial official on Thursday overturned the 33-year imprisonment sentence awarded to Shakeel Afridi, the man who helped the American CIA track down Al- Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, local media reported.
According to reports, the commissioner of Frontier Crime (FCR) of the country's semi-autonomous northwestern tribal area of Khyber Agency Sahibzada Mohammad Anees declared the previous decision null and void and ordered for a retrial.
The commissioner also ordered to hand over the case to the political agent of the area to restart the trial as a judge.
In May last year, an assistant political agent of the region conducted the trial of Afridi and announced a 33-year jail term for him but the commissioner said he exceeded his authority in the case.
The official also said that Afridi could not be released without the orders and consent of the political agent.
U.S. officials, including former Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, had publicly confirmed Afridi had worked for the U.S. intelligence by collecting DNA to verify bin Laden's presence. Then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had also made similar remarks about Afridi's role in the CIA operation.
The 33-year imprisonment sentence had caused tension between Washington and Islamabad and the U.S. had called for his release.
A Pakistani panel tasked to investigate the 40-minute uninterrupted U.S. military operation to kill Osama bin Laden and his presence in a compound had proposed high treason against Afridi for helping other state.
While punished in Pakistan for violating the state law, Afridi was considered as a hero in the U.S. with some congressmen even proposing to present him with the highest American award.