Pakistan court accepts appeal by family of slain journalist

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Monday accepted an appeal by the family of slain American journalist Daniel Pearl seeking to keep a British-born Pakistani manon deathrow over the beheading of the Wall Street Journal reporter.

The court delayed until next week hearing the appeal over the lower-court acquittal of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who had been on death row since his 2002 conviction in Pearl’s killing.

The Supreme Court ordered Sheikh to remain in custody but Faisal Siddiqi, the lawyer for Pearl’s family, told the Associated Press on Monday the court will decide next week whether Sheikh will remain imprisoned during the course of the appeal, which could be years.

The government has argued against Sheikh’s release, despite his acquittal in April, saying it would endanger the public. But the Supreme Court will rule on that next week, Siddiqi said. He said Pakistan’s top court expressed concern about keeping Sheikh locked up even though he stands acquitted.

“The appeal could take years,” said Siddiqi. “Today the court admitted the appeal and next week it will decide if Sheikh stays in jail” until the appeal is decided. The family is arguing for Sheikh’s continued incarceration.

‘Shoe Bomber’ case

Sheikh had been convicted of helping lure Pearl to a meeting in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi inwhich hewas kidnapped. Pearl had been investigating the link between Pakistani militants and Richard C. Reid, dubbed the “Shoe Bomber” after trying to blow up a flight from Paris to Miami with explosives hidden in his shoes.

The lower court’s April ruling acquitted Sheikh and three other accomplices, who had been sentenced to life in jail for their role in the plot. The lower court found Sheikh guilty on a single lesser charge of abduction, which he is also appealing.

‘Reopen our pains’

The acquittal stunned the U.S. government, Pearl’s family and journalism advocacy groups.

“We felt like (it was) a thunderstorm that is about to reopen our pains of 2002,” Pearl’s father Judea Pearl told the Associated Press in an email Monday. “Pakistan’s judicial system caved to either inside or outside pressure to send a message of impunity to extremist elements worldwide.”

Following Monday’s court hearing, the Pearl family’s lawyer, Siddiqi, said there was “ample evidence” to overturn Sheikh’s appeal and return him to death row.

“There is eyewitness evidence, there is forensic evidence, there are confessional statements,” Siddiqi said.

The Sindh provincial government also is appealing Shiekh’s acquittal.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement that it is watching the case closely and “stands with the Pearl family during this arduous and painful process.”