The lawyer defending a Pakistani doctor jailed after helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden has quit the case because of death threats and alleged US interference.

Samiullah Afridi was representing Dr Shakil Afridi, who was jailed for 33 years for helping the CIA locate the al-Qaeda chief, who was in hiding in Pakistan, for assassination in 2011. The raid and sentence, since overturned, strained relations between the US and Pakistan.

Afridi said the US Government was interfering in the retrial, putting a lot of pressure on the Pakistani Government for his release.