Daniel Pearl: Pakistan’s high court releases men convicted of kidnapping and murdering American journalist

Daniel Pearl: Pakistan’s high court releases men convicted of kidnapping and murdering American journalist

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Pearl worked as head of the South Asia branch of the Wall Street Journal in 2002, when he was kidnapped in the city of Karachi, in southern Pakistan, while reporting on Richard Reid, the British terrorist known as the “suicide bomber”.

High-level kidnapping has attracted international attention, amid growing concern about the threat posed by radical Islamic terrorism.

Later, the attackers filmed Pearl’s beheading and sent it to the United States authorities. It was one of the first propaganda videos targeting hostages created by extremists and helped to inspire other terrorist groups to film horrific and flagrant acts of violence.

Four men were arrested in 2002 and convicted of Pearl’s kidnapping and murder. One of them, British citizen Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, was sentenced to death.

In April last year, a higher court in Sindh province, where Karachi is located, overturned the sentences of three of the four men and reduced Sheik’s sentence to seven years in prison, meaning he could be released within the time limit. .
The court said the men “suffered irreparable damage and extreme prejudice” after spending 18 years behind bars and, in December, ordered all four to be released, but both the Pearl family and Pakistani authorities appealed to the Supreme Court of country, which on Thursday decided against them.

According to a statement by lawyer Faisal Siddique Said, the family was “in total shock” with the majority decision, which they described as a “complete farce of justice” that would endanger journalists and the people of Pakistan.

The statement urged the United States government to “take all necessary steps according to the law to correct this injustice” and added that the family expects Pakistani authorities to act as well.

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