US defends arrest of Pak doctor who helped CIA trace Osama

The Obama administration on Wednesday said there was no basis for Pakistan to hold a doctor who ran a fake vaccination campaign for the CIA to help find Osama bin Laden.

"We continue to see no basis for (Shakil) Afridi to be held," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters at her daily news conference.

Earlier on Wednesday, a Pakistani court sentenced Afridi to 33 years of rigorous imprisonment after finding him guilty of "spying on al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden without bringing it to the notice of the government of Pakistan".

"We have regularly taken up this matter with Pakistan. I would expect we will continue to," she said in response to a question on Afridi.

"I think we've said that we don't see any basis for what's happened here, and so, you know, we will continue to make those representations to the government of Pakistan," she said.