Daniel Pearl: Pakistan’s top court rules to free men previously convicted of kidnapping and murdering Daniel Pearl

Last updated Jan 28, 2021

Pearl was working as the South Asia bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal in 2002 when he was abducted in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, while reporting on Richard Reid, the British terrorist called the “shoe bomber.”

The high profile kidnapping drew global attention in the middle of growing issue over the danger positioned by extreme Islamic terrorism.

Assailants later on recorded Pearl’s beheading and sent it to United States authorities. It was amongst the very first propaganda videos targeting captives developed by extremists, and assisted to influence other fear groups to movie dreadful and outright acts of violence.

4 guys were apprehended in 2002, and founded guilty of the abduct and murder of Pearl. One, British nationwide Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, was offered the death sentence.

In April in 2015, a high court in Sindh province, where Karachi lies, reversed the convictions of 3 of the 4 guys and decreased Sheikh’s sentence to 7 years in jail, indicating he was qualified for release on time served.

The court stated the guys had “suffered irreparable harm and extreme prejudice” after investing 18 years behind bars prior, and in December purchased all 4 to be released, however both the Pearl household and the Pakistani authorities attracted the nation’s Supreme Court, which on Thursday ruled versus them.

Matt Murray, editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, explained the judgment as “infuriating and unjust,” a belief echoed by the Biden administration and Pearl’s household.

White Home press secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday stated the United States was “outraged” by the choice, which she called an “affront to terrorism victims everywhere, including in Pakistan.”

And United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in a declaration that the United States was prepared to prosecute Sheikh in the United States. “We expect the Pakistani government to expeditiously review its legal options to ensure justice is served,” he included.

Pearl’s daddy, Judea Pearl, informed CNN that member of the family “were in shock and total disbelief,” at the bulk choice, which he referred to as “a crime against humanity, against journalism, against the core of our civilization. So we are very shocked and hope some steps will be taken to correct for this injustice.”

He included that they are asking the United States State Department and Department of Justice to “pursue vigorously a request for extraditing Omar [Saeed] Sheikh for this crime as well as other [crimes] he’s committed against US citizens — and we hope the Pakistani court and government will respond positively to such requests.”

The 4 guys, who are still in detention following the court’s judgment, have actually been put on the nation’s exit control list, disallowing them from leaving the nation, according to Pakistan’s interior ministry.

CNN’s Nikki Carvajal added to this report.

Jobber Wiki author Frank Long contributed to this report.

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