Appeals by convicts, State in Daniel Pearl case deferred | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Appeals by convicts, State in Daniel Pearl case deferred

KARACHI- The three appeals, two by four convicts and another by state seeking enhancement of sentences were deferred by an Appellate bench of High Court of Sindh (SHC) to a date to be fixed later by office of the court.

When the appeals came up for hearing before an Anti Terrorist Appellate (ATA) bench comprising Justice Wahid Bux Brohi and Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffery, Rai Basheer counsel for main accused/convict/appellant Omar Shaikh was not present. Abdul Waheed Katpar, Khawaja Naveed, counsel for convicted accused Adil Shaikh, Salman Saquib, and Fahad Naseem were present besides Raja Qureshi, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP).

The bench then deferred the hearing to a date in office.

Omar Shaikh has been sentenced to death while remaining accused have been sentenced to serve life terms on charge of kidnapping and later slaughtering Daniel Pearl, Bureau Chief of South African magazine “Wall Street Journal.” The ATC Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas held the trial of the accused. The appellants/convicts assail the judgment of trial court and sought exoneration.

The state went into an appeal seeking enhancement of life term unto death on ground that prime accused Omar Shaikh has been sentenced to death while co-accused were awarded lesser sentence although the evidence was same against all the accused persons/appellants/respondents.
Source: The Nation
Date:12/11/2002