Pakistan Supreme Court orders immediate release of Daniel Pearl murder prime suspect

Dismissing petition by Sindh government in Pakistan, the country's supreme court on Thursday ordered immediate release of Ahmed Omar Sheikh. He was earlier convicted and acquitted in journalist Daniel Pearl murder case. Pakistan Supreme Court upheld the verdict of Sindh high court.

Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journal journalist, was abducted and killed in 2002. Sheikh, after 18 years of denials, has admitted a "minor role" in the killing. The admission was made in a handwritten letter in 2019. The letter was submitted to Pakistan's Supreme Court two weeks ago. On Wednesday Sheikh's lawyers confirmed that their client had indeed written it.

Sheikh was earlier acquitted by a lower court. But Pearl's family and Pakistan government appealed against the verdict. However, Pakistan Supreme Court has now ordered immediate release of Ahmed Omar Sheikh

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"The court has come out to say that there is no offense that he has committed in this case," Mahmood Sheikh, who represented Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh

Pearl was the South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal when he was abducted in Karachi in January 2002 while researching a story about Islamist militants.

Nearly a month later, after a string of ransom demands were made, a graphic video showing his decapitation was delivered to the US consulate.

(With AFP inputs)