Pak appeals SC verdict freeing Omar Sheikh

WASHINGTON CALLS THE TOP COURT’S DECISION ‘AN AFFRONT TO TERROR VICTIMS EVERYWHERE’ AND OFFERS TO PROSECUTE THE UK-BORN SUSPECT

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s government on Friday appealed to the Supreme Court to review its decision to free Omar Saeed Sheikh, the British-born al-qaeda terrorist convicted in the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, hours after the US expressed “deep concern” over the ruling.

The top court’s ruling on Thursday follows an outcry last year when a lower court acquitted the 47-year-old and three others of murder and reduced his conviction to a lesser charge of kidnapping - overturning his death sentence and ordering him to be freed, after nearly two decades in jail.

The decision outraged the US and extends a legal tug of war between the Sindh provincial government - who kept the group behind bars using emergency powers - and the courts.

Fiaz Shah, prosecutor general for Sindh government, told AFP that it had lodged a review petition on the verdict at the Supreme Court in the capital Islamabad. “The petition was filed to seek a review and request the court to recall the order of acquittal,” Shah said.

An official at central prison in Karachi, where Sheikh is being held, said they had not received a formal court order for his release. “As soon as the order is formally received, it will be followed,” said the official requesting anonymity.

The White House said it was “outraged” by the Supreme Court’s ruling and has suggested allowing American officials to prosecute him. Chief spokesperson Jen Psaki termed the ruling

“an affront to terrorism victims everywhere” and demanded the Pakistani government to “review its legal options”.

“We call on the Pakistani government to expeditiously review its legal options, including allowing the United States to prosecute Sheikh for the brutal murder of an American citizen and journalist,” Psaki told reporters.

A statement released by the state department on behalf of secretary of state Anthony Blinken reaffirmed the White House’s response. “We are also prepared to prosecute Sheikh in the United States for his horrific crimes against an American citizen,” the statement said.

Pearl, the South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, was researching a story about Islamist militants when he was abducted in Karachi in January 2002. Nearly a month later, a graphic video showing his decapitation was given to officials.

Sheikh, a British-born jihadist, was arrested days after Pearl’s abduction. He was later sentenced to death by hanging after telling a Karachi court that Pearl had already been killed days before the gruesome video of the journalist’s beheading had been released.