Four charged with Pearl kidnapping, murder
KARACHI- Four suspects, including British born Ahmed Omar Seeed Sheikh, were charged in a High Court on Friday with the kidnapping and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl, the chief prosecutor said.
“All the four accused have been charged with kidnapping for ransom, murder and terrorism,” Raja Qureshi, chief prosecutor for the Sindh, told reporters outside the courtroom in Karachi. “These charges carry a normal sentence of death.”
Earlier Omar and fellow suspect Sheikh Adil were whisked into an Anti Terrorist Court in Karachi, in an armored police puck security.
Police said t he two other suspects, Salman Saquib and Fahad Naseem, had confessed to their role in the kidnapping before a lower court earlier this month and had not been required in court on Friday.
The case is seen a key test of Pakistan’s resolve in dealing with suspected groups as part of its role in the US-led war on terror.
Omar has also been indicted by a US court on one count of hostage taking and one of conspiring to take hostages resulting in the death of Pearl.
But government has said it would only consider extraditing him once its own trial is complete.
Qureshi said the judge had fixed Match 29 for the start of the trial, which would be held under a special antiterrorism law. “The trial has to be completed within’ seven days,” he said.
Qureshi said the prosecution had 31 witnesses, including FBI officials: “Besides circumstantial evidence about Daniel Pearl’s“ kidnapping, the prosecution has produced a copy of the video tape showing the horrifying scenes of Pearl’s beheading and e-mails demanding ransom,” Qureshi said.
Source: Business Recorder
Date:3/23/2002
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