Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the prime accused in the Daniel Pearl murder case, has been ordered released by the Supreme Court, along with three co-accused, after about 19 years of confinement under trial. The release order came yesterday as the top court rejected a Sindh government appeal against a Sindh High Court (SHC) order for the immediate release of all four. British-born Sheikh was initially ordered to hang by an anti-terrorism court in July 2002 while all three co-accused were sentenced to life in prison. Later, on April 2, 2020, the SHC commuted Sheikh’s death sentence to seven years (which essentially meant his release as he had spent much more time in prison under trial) and acquitted three others who were serving life terms.
The Supreme Court order only rejects the Sindh government’s detention of the four persons under Maintenance of Public Order while a separate bench of the top court is hearing appeals against SHC’s acquittal of the four, and a decision on the appeals has not yet been announced. However, Sheikh’s lawyer insists that the top court “has come out to say that there is no offence that he [Sheikh] has committed in this case” that concerns the kidnapping of the American journalist in Karachi in January 2002 and his subsequent beheading somewhere in Pakistan the following month. The gruesome decapitation that was captured on camera and released in the form of a video clip sent scare through the country and led to massive international outrage.
However, after all these years, the high-profile murder is still a mystery — something that speaks of the utter failure of all associated with the criminal justice system in the country. It is indeed a great shame that the authorities have failed to connect the dots and come to the conclusion as to who killed Daniel Pearl. A complete travesty of justice!
Published in The Express Tribune, January 29th, 2021.
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