Judges from Pakistan’s Supreme Court have upheld the acquittal of a suspect accused of involvement with the gruesome beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.
The White House is “outraged” for releasing four men convicted of the murder of an American journalist, said it was “an affront to terrorism victims everywhere”.
Pearl was kidnapped and beheaded while working on a story about extremist groups in Pakistan. A British-born alleged militant was originally convicted of masterminding the operation, with three accomplices.
In 2002, Pearl, the 38-year-old journalist of The Wall Street Journal’s South Asia bureau, was abducted and beheaded while he was in Pakistan to investigate a story of a terror group’s links to Al-Qaeda.
A videotape showing the aftermath of Pearl’s beheading was sent to the U.S. Consulate in Karachi and posted on the Internet, a portent of the cinematic violence committed by Islamic extremist groups in the coming years.
The 2-1 decision was on an appeal by the Pearl family and the Pakistani government against the ruling of a provincial court last April that overturned Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh’s murder conviction and the convictions of three accomplices.
Because of this decision, the 47-year-old militant Islamist was able to get off death row and get out of jail since he’s been rotting in one for about two decades.
While Sheikh benefited from the changed ruling the most, the other three men also benefited greatly. They were able to have their convictions overturned, which helped them get out of prison.
Daniel Pearl’s family is heartbroken by the court’s latest decision. The writer’s parents, Judea, 83, and Ruth appealed the men’s acquittals and were disappointed in the court’s move to release the men.
“The Pearl family is in complete shock by the majority decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to acquit and release Ahmed Omer Sheikh and the other accused persons who kidnapped and killed Daniel Pearl,” the Pearl family said in a statement released by their lawyer, Faisal Siddiqi. “Today’s decision is a complete travesty of justice, and the release of these killers puts in danger journalists everywhere and the people of Pakistan.”
Defense attorney Mehmood A. Sheikh, no relation, confirmed that Sheikh and three others were released from prison.
“The court has come out to say that there is no offense that he has committed in this case,” said the attorney. He added that Sheikh “should not have spent one day in jail.”
“The court has come out to say that there is no offense that he has committed in this case,” said the attorney. He added that Sheikh “should not have spent one day in jail.”
Sheikh had a history of militancy before the Pearl case. He was convicted for the 1994 kidnappings of Western tourists in India but released when militants hijacked an Indian plane to Afghanistan to demand his freedom.
He spent years in Afghanistan, where it is believed he linked up with al-Qaida and, at some point, filtered back into Pakistan.
But the 2002 case surrounding Pearl’s murder appeared to be rushed and clumsy. One deep-dive investigation into Pearl’s death by Georgetown University found prosecutors used perjured evidence and made a host of other mistakes. It identified Sheikh as the mastermind of Pearl’s kidnapping and killing but said he and the other accomplices were not present when the journalist was killed.
