US says ‘grateful’ to Pakistan for appealing acquittals in Daniel Pearl murder

ISLAMABAD: The United States Justice Department released a statement by Acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen on Wednesday, thanking the Pakistan government for its appeal against a court order acquitting Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a British-born Pakistani man convicted over the 2002 beheading of the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
Last week, while hearing an appeal from the family of Sheikh against his detention despite a court acquitting him in April, the Sindh High Court ordered Sheikh’s immediate release but said his name be put on a no-fly list.
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 Pakistan 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.
“We understand that Pakistani authorities are taking steps to ensure that Omar Sheikh remains in custody while the Supreme Court appeal seeking to reinstate his conviction continues,” the statement by Rosen said. “The separate judicial rulings reversing his conviction and ordering his release are an affront to terrorism victims everywhere.”
He added: “We remain grateful for the Pakistani government’s actions to appeal such rulings to ensure that he and his co-defendants are held accountable. If, however, those efforts do not succeed, the United States stands ready to take custody of Omar Sheikh to stand trial here. We cannot allow him to evade justice for his role in Daniel Pearl’s abduction and murder.”
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.