On death row: Daniel Pearl murder convict ‘attempts suicide’

HYDERABAD:

Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh, who is facing death for his alleged role in the 2002 murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl, attempted suicide in his prison cell a day before the hearing of his appeal at the Sindh High Court (SHC) on February 13.

According to the Hyderabad Central Jail superintendent, Pir Shabbir Jan Sarhindi, Shaikh had tried to hang himself from the ventilator. Shaikh was sentenced to death in 2002. But his appeal against the verdict is pending in the SHC.

Deputy Jail Superintendent Majid Akhtar told The Express Tribune that the SHC served a notice in the first week of February, asking Shaikh to present his lawyer before the court for hearing on Feb 13. However, he refused to accept the notice.

“Shaikh warned the wardens that he will commit suicide if he is not provided a mobile phone within 15 minutes,” Superintendent Sarhindi said.

According to him, Shaikh used his bedsheet as a rope to hang himself from the iron grills of the ventilator in his prison cell. “The wardens used a scissor to cut the bed sheet when he knotted it in the grills and around his neck,” he added.

However, the jail hospital’s version appears different. “Shaikh was not brought to the hospital for a checkup after his attempted suicide. I can’t confirm if he was injured or not,” Dr Pir Manzoor Ali, the in charge of the jail hospital told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16^th, 2014.