SC questions confessional statements in Pearl case

Justice Sardar Tariq Masood – a member of the bench hearing appeals against April 2 order of the Sindh High Court (SHC) in the Daniel Pearl case – has asked as to why one of the accused Fahad Naseem later said that he had given the confessional statement to save his skin.

“Had he [Fahad Naseem] been given some guarantee that he would not be handed over to police again after this denial,” Justice Masood said on Tuesday during the hearing of the case. “The prosecution witness Asif Mehmood has also denied being privy of the conspiracy [to kill the US journalist],” he added.

Sindh government’s counsel Farooq H Naek said the plot was made by the main accused Ahmed Omer Saeed Sheikh in collaboration with other accused – Fahad Naseem, Syed Salman Saqib and Sheikh Muhammad Adil.

“The accused Naseem was remanded in judicial custody after his testimony,” he added. Naek said the main accused Omer Saeek Sheikh had confessed to killing Pearl and refused to defend himself.

Justice Masood, however, noted that Sheikh also stated that he was beaten by the police to confess the crime. We don’t know how the high court has dealt with the case, he added.

Naek said Ahmed Omer Saeed Sheikh gave two separate statements. Justice Masood said the provisional challan is also a part of the trial and the entire case may be based on it.

Sindh’s counsel reiterated that all evidence pointed to a conspiracy to murder Pearl. The court later adjourned till today [Wednesday]. Naek will present more of his arguments.

The SHC on April 2 commuted the death sentence of British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, convicted for kidnapping and murdering US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 to seven years.

The high court bench had also acquitted three others who were serving life terms in the case, almost two decades after they were found guilty by a trial court. The Sindh government as well as Pearl’s family had later challenged the verdict and a three-judge Supreme Court bench opened the appeal on Dec 1.

During the hearing on December 2, the SC bench noted that a key prosecution witness – a taxi driver who had last seen Pearl along with Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh – had not accepted that the plan to kill the US journalist was made in his presence.

Sindh government’s lawyer Farooq H Naek had conceded that it was an established fact that the murder plan was not made in that witness’s presence. Justice Sardar Tariq Masood had said the charge-sheet claimed that murder was planned.