Peshawar, Pakistan

Dr Shakil Afridi, a doctor who helped the CIA track down Osama bin Laden in his Abbottabad compound and had been imprisoned at a Peshawar prison for the past several years, has been moved out of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. 

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An official of the Central Prison Peshawar confirmed that in the afternoon a large number of policemen as well as army contingent reached the prison and took Dr Afridi away with them amid tight security.

Shakil Afridi has been languishing in a prison in the city of Peshawar for almost seven years after his fake vaccination programme helped US agents track and kill the Al-Qaeda leader.

Jamil Afridi, the doctor's brother, confirmed that he had been informed by government officials that "Shakil has been moved to a safer place".

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Afridi was sentenced to jail for 33 years in May 2012 after he was convicted of ties to militants, a charge he has always denied.

Some US lawmakers said the case was revenge for his help in the search for the Al-Qaeda chief.

In 2016, a US threat to cut aid to Pakistan saw a tribunal slice 10 years off his sentence -- but since then US pressure for his release has tapered off.