Washington: The White House has expressed outrage over Pakistan Supreme Court’s decision to acquit those involved in the sensational kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl in 2002 and said that the judgement is an “affront” to terrorism victims everywhere.
Pearl, the 38-year-old South Asia bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, was abducted and beheaded in Pakistan while investigating the links between the country’s powerful spy agency ISI and al-Qaeda. The beheading made international headlines. British-born al-Qaeda terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and his three aides – Fahad Naseem, Sheikh Adil and Salman Saqib – were convicted and sentenced in Pearl’s abduction and murder in Karachi in 2002.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed appeals against Sheikh’s acquittal and ordered his release, a judgement denounced by the American journalist’s family as “a complete travesty of justice”. The court also ordered the release of the three other convicts.
During the White House’s daily press briefing on Thursday, press secretary Jen Psaki said, “We recognise past Pakistani actions to try to hold Mr Pearl’s murderers accountable, and we do note that as of right now, Omar Sheikh remains in detention in Pakistan under national security authorities. But we call on the Pakistani government to expeditiously review its legal options including allowing the United States to prosecute for the brutal murder of an American citizen and journalist.”
US secretary of state Tony Blinken urged Pakistan to explore all legal options to ensure that Pearl’s killers are brought to justice in a strongly worded statement. He said, “Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was indicted in the United States in 2002 for hostage-taking and conspiracy to commit hostage-taking, resulting in the murder of Pearl, the South Asia Bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, as well as the 1994 kidnapping of another United States citizen in India.”
He added, “We take note of the attorney general’s statement that he intends to seek review and recall of the decision.” He reiterated that they were prepared to prosecute Sheikh in the United States.
In a tweet, Congressman Brad Sherman said, “The killers of Daniel Pearl go free. And Dr. Afridi, who helped the US get Osama Bin Laden, rots in jail.”
Pearl’s murder occurred three years after Sheikh, along with Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, was released by India and given safe passage to Afghanistan in exchange for the nearly 150 passengers of hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814. Sheikh was serving a prison term in India for kidnappings of western tourists in the country.
In April 2020, a two-judge Sindh high court bench commuted Sheikh’s death sentence to seven years imprisonment. The court also acquitted his three aides who were serving life terms in the case. The Sindh government and Pearl’s family had filed petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the high court verdict.
(PTI)