Pakistani court overturns death sentence in Daniel Pearl case
The Sindh High Court on Thursday overturned the death sentence of Ahmed Omar Sheikh, the man accused in the 2002 murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl, and acquitted three others accused in the case, Sheikh’s lawyer said.
In July 2002, British-born militant Sheikh was convicted of
Pearl’s kidnapping and murder with three other men, Salman Saqib, Fahad Naseem and Shaikh Adil, who were sentenced to life in prison.
Last month, a two-judge bench of the Sindh High Court reserved judgment on appeals submitted by the convicts 18 years ago.
The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped in Pakistan’s biggest city of Karachi in January 2002 while researching a story on militancy, and was beheaded on Feb. 1.
“The accused had appealed the trial court’s (2002) decision, judgment on which was announced today,” Sheikh’s lawyer Khawaja Naveed Ahmed told Arab News.
“It could not be proved that the accused had murdered Pearl so they are acquitted but since the charges of 365 (a law on kidnapping)] have been proved against Ahmed Omar Sheikh, he has been handed seven years’ imprisonment,” Ahmed said, adding that the government could appeal the Sindh court’s decision in the Supreme Court.
If the government did not convince the upper court, he said, all four accused would be released as they had already spent 18 years in jail.
HIGHLIGHTS
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Sindh High Court sentences Sheikh to seven years’ prison for kidnapping Pearl, acquits three co-accused.
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In 2002, Sheikh was convicted of Pearl’s kidnapping and murder with three other men who were given life sentences.