LAHORE: The sister of murdered American journalist Daniel Pearl has slammed a court’s decision to release a British-born Pakistani convicted of the 2002 kidnapping and beheading of her brother.
Tamara Pearl told Arab News on Friday that Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh was the mastermind behind the plot, “no matter what any court says.”
Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court verdict last year acquitting Sheikh and three other men over the crime. The court also dismissed separate appeals against Sheikh’s acquittal filed by Pearl’s family and the provincial government of Pakistan’s Sindh province.
The ruling has stunned not only relatives of Pearl but also the US government and journalism advocacy groups.
“We all know that Omar Saeed Sheikh was the mastermind of Danny’s kidnapping,” Pearl’s sister said.
“His lies lured Danny into an interview in Karachi on Jan. 23, 2002 and a month later Danny was dead. Three months later his body was found in an unmarked grave. This is the truth, no matter what any court says.
“The defendants in this court case and the justices who acquitted them know that this is the truth, but the lies continue. Neither verdict would have brought Danny back but lies are corrosive. We trust that somehow truth will prevail,” she added.
In 2002, just months after his arrest, Sheikh was sentenced to death and three other suspects to life in prison for their roles in the plot to kill Pearl. In April, however, a lower court acquitted them.
The acquittal was appealed separately in the Supreme Court by Pearl’s family and the Sindh government. Both appeals were rejected on Thursday by a three-judge bench, headed by Justice Mushir Alam, that also ordered Sheikh be freed.
Late on Thursday, the Pakistan government, through the office of the attorney general, said it fully supported the Sindh government with regard to the Pearl case and would file at the earliest a “petition seeking review and recall of the order of acquittal passed by the Supreme Court.”
The White House expressed its outrage over the court decision, with spokeswoman Jen Psaki calling it “an affront to terror victims everywhere” and vowing that Washington was “committed to securing justice for Daniel Pearl’s family.”
BACKGROUND
Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court verdict last year acquitting Sheikh and three other men over the crime. The court also dismissed separate appeals against Sheikh’s acquittal filed by Pearl’s family and the provincial government of Pakistan’s Sindh province.
American Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US recognized past Pakistani actions to hold Sheikh accountable and appreciated that he currently remained detained under Pakistani law.
In a statement, Blinken added: “We take note of the attorney general’s statement that he intends to seek review and recall of the decision. We are also prepared to prosecute Sheikh in the US for his horrific crimes against an American citizen.”
But Sheikh’s lawyer told Arab News there was no chance his client could be extradited to America or tried there.
Mahmood A. Sheikh, who is not related to his client, said: “Under what provision do they (the US) want him (Sheikh) extradited, for what offense, and on what charge?
“This is not a trial which was done behind the back of the US government. The US participated in this trial by sending a contingent of FBI officers to Pakistan who along with the police investigated the case. They appeared as witnesses in the trial court.”
The lawyer pointed out that there could be no “double jeopardy” under Pakistani law.
“If a person has been acquitted or convicted after a due trial in Pakistan, he cannot be charged and tried for that offense again. Similar provision is available in the US Constitution. So, the US government may have a desire and wish to lay its hands on this person, but this won’t happen.”
“The Pakistan government will honor its own constitution and will not enter into any scheme to defeat the fundamental rights of its own citizens,” Sheikh added.
On Wednesday, Sheikh’s attorney had admitted that his client had written a letter telling a court that he played a “minor” role in Pearl’s killing. The letter was submitted to Pakistan’s Supreme Court nearly two weeks ago, but it was not until Wednesday that Sheikh’s legal representative confirmed his client wrote it.
The three-page letter addressed to the Sindh High Court did not elaborate or say exactly what Sheikh’s alleged “minor” role in Pearl’s slaying was.
