{"id":9783,"date":"2021-02-01T14:48:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-01T09:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pakistanpressfoundation.org\/?p=100476"},"modified":"2021-02-01T14:48:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T09:48:00","slug":"daniel-pearls-family-too-will-challenge-sc-verdict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/daniel-pearls-family-too-will-challenge-sc-verdict\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Pearl\u2019s family, too, will challenge SC verdict"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
ISLAMABAD: The family of American journalist Daniel Pearl will challenge an order by Supreme Court to release a British-born militant acquitted of masterminding his kidnapping and brutal murder in 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the acquittal of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three other men last year, triggering outrage from the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pearl was the South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal when he was abducted and beheaded by jihadists in Karachi in January 2002 while researching a story about Islamist militants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The Pearl family intends to file a review petition against the illegal and unjust majority decision,” parents Ruth and Judea Pearl said in a statement that was tweeted by the murdered journalist’s friend and former Wall Street Journal colleague Asra Nomani.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They join both the federal government and Sindh government in launching a plea for the latest verdict to be reviewed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawyers for Pearl’s family have argued that Sheikh played a crucial role in organising the abduction and detention of the journalist before ordering his captors to kill him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Defence lawyers, however, say he was a scapegoat and sentenced on insufficient evidence<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It is beyond belief that Ahmad Omar Sheikh — who after 18 years of lies, had finally admitted in a handwritten letter to the court his role in the kidnapping for ransom of Daniel Pearl — has been given a clean slate and let loose once again upon the world to continue his international terrorist activities,” Pearl’s family said in the statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The four men — who have been detained under the emergency orders of Sindh government since their acquittal last year — still have multiple court challenges linked to their case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US President Joe Biden’s administration was “outraged by the Supreme Court’s decision”, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new US Secretary of State, Antony J. Blinken, on Friday spoke with foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, pressing his “concern about the potential release of these prisoners”, a spokesman for the US Department of State said.\u2014AFP<\/p>\n\n\n\n