LAHORE: A Pakistani-British man who was on death row for 18 years before his acquittal in the 2002 beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl was transferred Monday to a government safe house for security reasons, police said.
Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh was handed over to the Punjab Counter-Terrorism department amid tight security, a senior police officer Suhail Sukhera told The Associated Press.
Sheikh was moved to his home city of Lahore from the southern port city of Karachi. Sukhera provided no further details and only said Sheikh was being kept at a well-guarded place.
Sheikh was acquitted by the Sindh High Court in April 2020 and since then Pearl’s family and Pakistan’s government have been fighting a legal battle to overturn the acquittal. Washington has also expressed its concern over the acquittal of Sheikh.
Sheikh has been in custody despite his acquittal under a special law allowing the government to detain people deemed a security risk.
The transfer comes more than a month after Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered Sheikh moved to a safe house from a special jail cell for inmates sentenced to death.
Authorities say Sheikh will not be allowed to leave the safe house.
Pearl disappeared on January 23, 2002, in Karachi where he was investigating links between Pakistani militant groups and Richard C. Reid, dubbed the “shoe bomber.” Reid had attempted to blow up a flight from Paris to Miami with explosives hidden in his shoes. Sheikh was convicted of helping lure Pearl to a meeting in Karachi, during which he was kidnapped.
Pearl’s body was discovered in a shallow grave soon after a video of his beheading was delivered to the US Consulate in Karachi. The Pentagon in 2007 released a transcript in which Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, said he had killed Pearl.
Pakistan transfers man acquitted in US reporter Daniel Pearl’s killing
https://arab.news/rc3m6
Pakistan transfers man acquitted in US reporter Daniel Pearl’s killing
- Sheikh was on death row for 18 years before his acquittal in the 2002 beheading of Pearl
- Pearl’s family and Pakistan’s government have been fighting a legal battle to overturn the acquittal
Pakistan says it seized 32 square kilometers inside Afghanistan as border clashes escalate
- Security official describes ‘limited tactical action’ in Gudwana after Afghan assaults
- Islamabad accuses Kabul of sheltering militants as UN, China and Russia urge restraint
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has seized a 32-square-kilometer area inside Afghanistan following overnight fighting, a security official said on Saturday, as cross-border clashes between the two countries escalated sharply.
A Pakistani security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said troops carried out a “limited tactical action” in the Gudwana area opposite the Zhob sector along the frontier, capturing Afghan territory after responding to attacks on Pakistani positions.
“On the night of Feb. 26/27, posts opposite the Zhob sector launched anticipated physical attacks on multiple Pakistani positions,” the official said, referring to fighters linked to Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities, whom Islamabad identifies as Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan (TTA).
“In response to aggressive unprovoked fire and physical attacks, Pakistan security forces launched a limited tactical action on the night of Feb. 27/28 in the general area of Gudwana with a view to capture TTA Tahir Post,” he continued, adding that 32 square kilometers of Afghan territory were seized.
The official said special combat teams crossed the border after preparatory bombardment, supported by intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets providing “real-time battlefield awareness.”
He said 24 Afghan Taliban fighters were killed and 37 wounded, with no Pakistani casualties reported.
The claims could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate confirmation from Taliban authorities in Kabul of any territorial loss in the Gudwana area.
The latest clashes erupted after Pakistani airstrikes targeted what Islamabad described as militant hideouts inside Afghanistan over the weekend, triggering retaliatory fire along the frontier and sharply escalating long-running tensions. Islamabad accuses Kabul of sheltering Pakistani Taliban militants responsible for attacks inside Pakistan, an allegation that Afghanistan denies.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Saturday evening that 352 Afghan Taliban fighters had been killed and more than 535 wounded since the latest phase of hostilities began.
Tarar said Pakistani strikes had destroyed 130 check posts, 171 tanks and armored vehicles and targeted 41 locations across Afghanistan by air. Those figures could not be independently verified.
The United Nations, as well as China and Russia, have called for restraint.
The United States said Pakistan has the right to defend itself against cross-border militancy.
