Pakistani Taliban Vows To Cut Into Pieces Doctor Who Helped In Bin Laden Hunt

The Pakistani Taliban has vowed to kill Shakeel Afridi, the Pakistani doctor who has been accused of helping the CIA search for Osama bin Laden.

We will cut him into pieces when we find him, Ehsanullah Ehsan, a Pakistani Taliban spokesman, told CNN during a telephone interview. He spied for the U.S. to hunt down our hero, Osama bin Laden.

Afridi is in prison in Peshawar after being sentenced last week to 33 years -- but, contrary to initial reports, he has not been convicted of treason for helping Americans locate bin Laden in Pakistan through a fake vaccination campaign. Pakistan said that he has in fact been sentenced for having close ties with the militant group Lashkar-e-Islam. That allows the Pakistani government to treat his imprisonment as an internal matter and deny any U.S. requests to release him.

According to court documents, Afridi provided millions of rupees to Lashkar-e-Islam as well as medical assistance to militant commanders. The group has been accused of killing government officials and their supporters.

Concerned for his brother's safety, Jamil Afridi told CNN this week Shakeel didn't betray Pakistan by helping the United States find and kill bin Laden.

If he helped the U.S., it was for the benefit of Pakistan, Jamil Afridi said. The American government should help us in any way it can.

Some Pakistani officials have said that Afridi's trial was a sham. In response to the verdict, the U.S. has cut $33 million in aid to Pakistan, one for each year of the prison sentence.