Supreme Court of Pakistan has ordered immediate release of Ahmed Omar Sheikh in connection convicted in the Daniel Pearl murder case.
Ahmed Omar Sheikh was accused of involvement in the gruesome murder of journalist Daniel Pearl. Sheikh was acquitted by a lower court last year. The verdict received an international outcry, and was challenged by Pearl’s family and the Pakistan Government in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, which on Thursday, dismissed the appeal, and upholding the Sindh High Court’s verdict, ordered Sheikh’s immediate release.
Daniel Pearl, a journalist associated with the Wall Street Journal, who was working on a story about Islamist militants in Pakistan, was murdered after being kidnapped in January 2002. The abductors made multiple demands for ransom, and later sent a graphic video of Pearl’s beheading to the US consulate. His body was recovered from a shallow grave in a southern district of Karachi.
After years of denying the charges and claiming that he “did not know Danny Pearl”, Ahmed Omar Sheikh confessed playing a “minor role” in Pearl’s assassination, in a hand-written letter in 2019. The letter was submitted to the Supreme Court two week ago and Sheikh’s lawyer confirmed that it was authentic.
The convict did not request to be acquitted, and said that his “role in this matter was a relatively minor one, which does not warrant the death sentence.” However, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has ordered to free him immediately, along with the three other Pakistanis who were sentenced to life in prison for involvement in Pearl’s abduction and assassination.
