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ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the release of a Pakistani man convicted and acquitted in the gruesome beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.
The court also dismissed the appeal for the acquittal of Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh by Pearl’s family and the Pakistani government.
Sheikh has been in the death row since his conviction for Pearl’s death in 2002. His lawyer said Sheikh “shouldn’t have spent a day in jail.”
Lawyer Mehmood A. Sheikh, no relative, said the court also ordered the release of three other Pakistanis who had been sentenced to life in prison for their participation in the kidnapping and death of Pearl.
“Today’s ruling is a complete travesty of justice and the release of these killers endangers journalists around the world and the Pakistani people,” the Pearl family said in a statement issued by their lawyer, Faisal Siddiqi.
The three-judge Supreme Court ruled 2-1 in favor of upholding Sheikh’s acquittal and ordered his release, Siddiqi said.
Washington had previously said it would demand Sheikh extradited to the United States for trial. There was no immediate reaction from the US Embassy to the court order upholding the appeal.
“We urge the US government to take all necessary steps under the law to correct this injustice. We also hope that the Pakistani authorities will take all necessary measures to remedy this parody of justice, ”said the Pearl family.
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Siddiqi, the attorney for the Pearl family, said the only legal avenue after the court ruling upholding Sheikh’s acquittal would be to seek a review of the court decision. However, he said the review would be conducted by the same court that allowed the appeal. “In practical terms,” there are no other legal avenues to pursue in Pakistan, he said.
Sheikh was found guilty of helping lure Pearl to a meeting in the port city of Karachi, southern Pakistan, during which he was kidnapped. Pearl had investigated the link between Pakistani activists and Richard C. Reid, nicknamed the “Shoe Bomber” after trying to blow up a Paris-Miami flight with explosives hidden in his shoes.
Pearl went missing on January 23 while investigating militant ties to the so-called shoe bomber. His body was discovered in a shallow grave shortly after a gruesome video of his beheading was handed over to the US Consulate in Karachi.
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