US journalist Daniel Pearl’s parents approach Pakistan Supreme Court against freeing of his killers
- The four men were acquitted for lack of evidence by a Pakistani court
- Pearl was kidnapped in 2002 while investigating Islamist militants in Karachi. He was beheaded some weeks later
“We’re standing up for justice, not only for our son, but for all our dear friends in Pakistan so they can live in a society free of violence and terrorism,” Pearl’s father Judea said in an emotional video message posted on Twitter.
Their lawyer Faisal Siddiqi said he had filed the petition on their behalf. A court official said it had yet to be admitted for further proceedings.
“A bare perusal of the entire record would reveal that there was a plethora of incriminating evidence, both forensic as well as oral, which proved that murder was committed and that all the accused persons aided and abetted the murder,” the appeal petition said.
Islamist militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a Briton of Pakistani origin, who was sentenced to death in 2002 for masterminding Pearl’s murder, had his sentence commuted last month and three of his aides who had been sentenced to life in prison were acquitted for lack of evidence by a high court in the southern port city of Karachi.
Pakistani authorities, however, ordered the four to be kept in detention for three months.
Washington denounced the high court ruling, with the top US diplomat for South Asia saying it was “an affront to victims of terrorism everywhere”.
Pakistan to challenge acquittal in 2002 killing of journalist Daniel Pearl
Wall Street Journal reporter Pearl, 38, was kidnapped in January 2002 while investigating Islamist militants in Karachi, capital of the southern Sindh province.
A graphic video showing his decapitation was delivered to the US consulate nearly a month later.
Observers at the time said the killers were acting out of revenge for Pakistan’s support of the US-led war on the hardline Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the al-Qaeda terror network they harboured.
In a statement supporting the appeal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said releasing the four men in the case “would only add to the threats facing journalists in Pakistan and deepen Pakistan’s reputation as a haven for terrorists.”
