Peshawar: The main lawyer for a Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA find al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden fled Pakistan on Wednesday after receiving death threats from militants, his colleagues said.
The lawyer had represented Dr. Shakil Afridi since his arrest following the May 2011 killing of bin Laden in a U.S. raid in the northwestern city of Abbottabad.
The doctor ran a vaccination program for the CIA to collect DNA to verify bin Laden's presence.
An assistant and a colleague in the northwestern city of Peshawar said the lawyer Samiullah Afridi traveled to Dubai to save his life.
“Samiullah Afridi before leaving for Dubai told me that he has received death threats from militants,” as assistant to Afridi said.
The assistant and lawyer said Afridi, who is not related to his client, told them he was leaving the country to save his life.
They spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation for their connection to the case.
