SC dismisses appeal, acquits Daniel Pearl murder case accused

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the appeal of the Sindh government and acquitted the accused of the 2002 murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl, ARY News reported.

A bench of the apex court headed by Justice Mushir Alam announced a brief verdict over the appeal of the Sindh government against the Sindh High Court’s April 2020 decision.

In the majority verdict a member of the bench wrote his note of dissent.

Four convicts of the murder case, British national Ahmed Omer Saeed Shaikh, co-accused Fahad Naseem, Salman Saqib and Sheikh Adil had moved the Sindh High Court (SHC) in 2002 challenging their convictions handed down by the Hyderabad Anti-Terrorism Court after finding them guilty of abducting and killing American Journalist Daniel Pearl.

The high court overturned the verdict of the ATC and acquitted convicts on April 02, 2020.

The 38-year-old South Asia bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal, Daniel Pearl, was researching for a story on religious extremists in January 2002 in Karachi, when he was abducted and slain.

Earlier, the government of Sindh submitted sensitive information in a sealed envelope to the court.

Advocate General Sindh said that the main accused Ahmed Omer Saeed have links with the outlawed banned groups. “There is evidence but we could not prove it before the court,” Sindh’s counsel said.