ISLAMABAD: The Sindh High Court on Thursday declared “null and void” the continued detention of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a British-born Pakistani man convicted over the 2002 beheading of the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
The court was hearing an appeal from the family of Sheikh against his detention despite a court acquitting him in April.
Sheikh was sentenced to death and three others to life in prison for their role in the plot in 2002. A lower Pakistani court acquitted Sheikh and three others this year, in a move that has stunned the US government, Pearl’s family and journalism advocacy groups.
The acquittal is now being appealed separately by the Pakistan government and Pearl’s family in the Supreme Court. The government has opposed Sheikh’s release from prison, saying it would endanger the public. He was to remain in custody until the appeals are resolved.
On Thursday, the Sindh court ordered the immediate release of Sheikh and three others, but said their names should be added to a no-fly list.
The men have been in rotting in jail for 18 years without committing any crime, the judge said.
Sheikh had been convicted of helping lure Pearl to a meeting in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi in which he was kidnapped. Pearl had been investigating the link between Pakistani militants and Richard C. Reid, dubbed the “Shoe Bomber” after trying to blow up a flight from Paris to Miami with explosives hidden in his shoes.
Pearl, 38, of Encino, California, was abducted January 23, 2002. In Sheikh’s original trial, emails between Sheikh and Pearl presented in court showed Sheikh gained Pearl’s confidence by sharing their experiences as both waited for the birth of their first child. Pearl’s wife Marianne Pearl gave birth to a son, Adam, in May 2002.
Pakistan court orders immediate release of four accused in Daniel Pearl killing
https://arab.news/9587b
Pakistan court orders immediate release of four accused in Daniel Pearl killing
- Sheikh was sentenced to death and three others to life in prison in 2002 but a lower court acquitted them in April
- Acquittal was appealed by government and Pearl’s family, government opposed Sheikh’s release saying it would endanger the public
Pakistan says multilateralism in peril, urges global powers to prioritize diplomacy over confrontation
- The country tells the UN international security system is eroding, asks rival blocs to return to dialogue
- It emphasizes lowering of international tensions, rebuilding of channels of communication among states
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan warned the world community on Monday that multilateralism was “in peril” amid rising global tensions, urging major powers to revive diplomacy and dialogue to prevent a further breakdown in international security.
Speaking at a UN Security Council briefing, Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, said the world was drifting toward confrontation at a time when cooperative mechanisms were weakening.
His comments came during a session addressed by Finland’s foreign minister Elina Valtonen, chairing the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the world’s largest regional security body.
Formed out of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, the OSCE was designed during the Cold War to reduce tensions, uphold principles of sovereignty and human rights and promote mechanisms for peaceful dispute resolution.
“Today, the foundational ethos of international relations, multilateralism, cooperation and indivisible security, as envisaged in the preamble of Helsinki Final Act, is perhaps facing its biggest challenge in decades,” Ahmed said. “The OSCE, too, is navigating a difficult geopolitical landscape, with conflict raging in the heart of Europe for nearly four years, depletion of trust and unprecedented strains on peaceful co-existence.”
He said a return to the “Helsinki spirit” of dialogue, confidence-building and cooperative security was urgently needed, not only in Europe but globally.
“This is not a matter of choice but a strategic imperative to lower tensions, rebuild essential channels of communication, and demonstrate that comprehensive security is best preserved through cooperative instruments, and not by the pursuit of hegemony and domination through military means,” he said. “Objective, inclusive, impartial, and principle-based approaches are indispensable for success.”
Ahmed’s statement came in a year when Pakistan itself fought a brief but intense war after India launched missile strikes at its city in May following a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. New Delhi blamed Pakistan for the assault, an allegation Islamabad denied while calling for a transparent international investigation.
The Pakistani diplomat said the international system was increasingly defined by bloc politics, mistrust and militarization, warning that such trends undermine both regional stability and the authority of multilateral institutions, including the UN itself.
He urged member states to invest more in preventive diplomacy and the peaceful settlement of disputes as reaffirmed by the Council in Resolution 2788.
Ahmad said Pakistan hoped the OSCE would continue reinforcing models of cooperative security and that the Security Council would back partnerships that strengthen international law and the credibility of multilateral frameworks.
The path forward, he added, required “choosing cooperation over confrontation, dialogue over division, and inclusive security over bloc-based divides.”
