Charges against Afridi have little merit, says Obama aide

"Well, the charges that we have seen do not seem to have any merit," Jacob J Lew, the White House Chief of Staff, told CNN in an interview, responding to a question on the Pakistani physician who is understood to have helped the American intelligence agency in tracing bin Laden to his Abbottabad hideout.

Pakistan, however, argues that imprisonment of Afridi is not because of his assistance to the CIA, but for his relationship with a terrorist outfit in the tribal region of Pakistan.

Lew, however, said that in this case the rule of law should govern.

"I can't speak to the specific details. I can just say that this is a case where the rule of law should govern, and justice should be done for the individual. I think I shouldn't say more than that," Lew told the CNN in an interview.