Daniel Pearl Murder Case: Pakistan court overturns death sentence of 4 accused
In the case of kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter Daniel Pearl, a Pakistan court on Thursday overturned the charges of murder on British born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and 3 others. Four accused in the murder were in Pakistani jail since last 18 years and will shortly be released from prison after they were found guilty only of kidnapping and not of murder.
Pearl was reportedly investigating terror organisation Al-Qaeda in Karachi in 2002 when he was kidnapped and subsequently murdered.
“The court has commuted Omar’s death sentence to a seven-year sentence,” Khawaja Naveed, the defence lawyer told news agency Reuters. “The murder charges were not proven, so he was given seven years for the kidnapping.
“Omar has already served 18 years, so his release orders will be issued sometime today. He will be out in a few days," he added.
Omar Sheikh was released by India during the trade-off after the Air India aircraft hijacking of 1999 in exchange of passengers on board IC-814.
The Sindh High Court also acquitted three others accused in the case: Fahad Naseem, Sheikh Adil, and Salman Saqib, who were earlier sentenced to life in prison.
“Justice has been done to my clients,” said Naveed.
Saeed, a former student at the London School of Economics, and the others were convicted in 2002.
The defendants were also collectively fined $32,000. At the time, chief prosecutor Raja Quereshi said the money would go to Pearl’s widow, Mariane, and their infant son, who was born after his father was killed.
Seven other suspects, including those who apparently killed Pearl, were never arrested.
Pearl disappeared Jan. 23, 2002 in Karachi while researching links between Pakistani militants and Richard C. Reid, who was arrested in December on a flight from Paris to Miami with explosives in his shoes.
Prosecutors said Saeed lured Pearl into a trap by promising to arrange an interview with an Islamic cleric who police believe was not involved in the conspiracy.
A videotape received by U.S. diplomats in February, 2002 confirmed that Pearl, 38, was dead. He had been beheaded.
In court testimony and emails released during the trial, Saeed said he developed a personal relationship with Pearl, with both sharing their concerns about their wives, who were both pregnant at the time. Marianne Pearl gave birth to their son Adam in May 2002.
The Pearl kidnapping was the first of five attacks against Westerners in Pakistan in 2002. A grenade attack against a Protestant church in Islamabad on March 17 killed five people, including two Americans and the attacker, were killed.
(With AP Inputs)
