Hearing in Pearl killing case adjourned | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Hearing in Pearl killing case adjourned

KARACHI – The hearing of appeals of four men, including Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh who had been convicted by an Anti-Terrorism Court for kidnapping and slaying US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 and an appeal filed by the State, has once again been adjourned till September 7 by an anti-terrorism appellate bench of the Sindh High Court.

When the appeals came up for hearing before the bench, comprising Justice Muhammad Mujeebullah Siddiqui and Justice Muhammad Afzal Soomro, Mohsin Imam advocate, the counsel of one of the appellants, requested the court to adjourn the matter as Abdul Waheed Katpar, the counsel for main convict Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh commonly known Shaikh Omar, was hospitalised and unable to appear before the court.

Rai Bashir advocate, the counsel of other convicts, who had come here from Lahore also informed the court that he would go to Saudi Arabia in order to perform Umra next month. The court with consent of both sides fixed September 7 as next date of hearing.

Shaikh Omar, Shaikh Muhammad Adil, Salman Saqib and Fahad Nasim were the four appellants, who had moved the SHC against the judgement of ATC, Hyderabad. On July 15, 2002, the trial court awarded capital sentence to Shaikh Omar and life imprisonment to three others on charges of their involvement in kidnapping and killing Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

The state had also filed an appeal praying the court to enhance the sentence of Salman Saqib, Shaikh Adil and Fahad Nasim to death penalty in 2002. Since then the appeals of the convicts and of state were pending before the SHC for disposal.
Source: The News
Date:7/29/2004