US expresses ‘deep concern’ over Daniel Pearl verdict

State Department says it is assured accused have not been released

The US State Department has expressed its “deep concerns” over the Sindh High Court (SHC) Thursday order to immediately release the four men accused of kidnapping and murdering Wall Street Journal’s former South Asia bureau chief Daniel Pearl in 2002.

“We are deeply concerned by the reports of the December 24 ruling of SHC to release multiple terrorists responsible for the murder of Daniel Pearl. We have been assured that the accused have not been released at this time,” the State Department said in a series of posts on Twitter on Friday.

It said the US understood that this case is ongoing in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, adding that it will “follow it closely”. “We continue to stand with the Pearl family through this extremely difficult process. We continue to honour Daniel Pearl’s legacy as a courageous journalist,” it added.

(1/3)We are deeply concerned by the reports of the December 24 ruling of Sindh High Court to release multiple terrorists responsible for the murder of Daniel Pearl. We have been assured that the accused have not been released at this time.

— State_SCA (@State_SCA) December 24, 2020

Earlier, Ruth and Judea – the parents of Daniel – expressed full confidence in the Supreme Court of Pakistan to provide justice to their son and reinforce the paramount of the freedom of the press.

In a statement, the parents condemned the decision made by the high court. They said, "We refuse to believe that the Pakistani government and the Pakistani people will let such a travesty of justice tarnish the image and legacy of Pakistan."

They were heartened to hear that the federal government is filing an appeal against the latest release order, adding that they believe Pearl's murderers should remain in jail.

A SHC division bench on Thursday ordered the Sindh government to immediately release the four men – including key accused Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh – convicted by an anti-terrorism court in 2002 for kidnapping and murdering Pearl.

The bench on April 2 commuted the death sentence of Omar to seven years and acquitted three others – Fahad Nasim Ahmed, Syed Salman Saqib and Sheikh Adil – who were serving life terms in the case.

The PPP led provincial government had swiftly challenged the April 2 order in the Supreme Court

The Sindh government had also immediately detained the four men under Section 3 (1) of West Pakistan Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance 1960 for three months.

It had claimed that there were sufficient reasons to believe that the liberty of the men was likely to pose grave threat to public safety and cause breach of peace and tranquility.

However, on Thursday, Justice Amjad Ali Sahito – a member of the SHC bench –expressed displeasure over the Sindh government’s decision to keep the men behind bars under the MPO and observed that the provincial administration cannot keep all suspects in detention.

Justice KK Agha, the other member of the bench, had noted that the government could not detain people on the basis of suspicion and later declared the detention illegal.

The court, however, asked the provincial authorities to place names of the four men on the Exit Control List (ECL), the country’s no fly list in view of the fact that the apex court is hearing appeals of the Sindh government and Pearl parents against the SHC April 2 order.

Daniel Pearl, 38, was abducted from Karachi in January 2002. Pearl’s wife Marianne Pearl, a US national who was living in Karachi, wrote a letter to the Artillery Maidan police on February 2, 2002, stating that her husband disappeared on January 23, 2002.

Later, a graphic video showing Pearl’s decapitation was delivered to the US consulate in Karachi nearly a month after he was kidnapped. After this, a case was filed against the suspects and 23 witnesses were produced in the case by the prosecution. Sheikh was arrested in February 2002.