Pearl’s murder video resurfaces on net despite FBI embargo
KARACHI- An American website ogrish.com has put online again the videotape which contains scenes of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl’s slaying, despite the fact that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Pearl family do not want to show the videotape. But in Pakistan the authorities are not in a mood to provide the video even to the defence counsels who wanted the video only for an expert review as they are pleading the case on behalf of four accused allegedly involved in Pearl’s abduction and murder.
Regarding the videotape, the Pakistani authorities claimed that the contents of the video reflected a gruesome murder by way of human slaughter which will not only create fear in the minds of the people, but if viewed would also create a sense of insecurity in the eyes of the public at large, nationally and internationally. On May 30 a division bench of High Court of Sindh in Karachi stayed an order of Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Hyderabad (where the Daniel Pearl murder trial is being held) in which it directed the prosecution to release the copy of the video to the defence counsels.
However, on the website the three-minute and thirty-six second (3:36) long video footage begins with the name of Daniel Pearl, scripted in Arabic. Pearl who was wearing a blue and pink T-shirt tells someone (who is behind the camera), “My name is Daniel Pearl and I am Jewish American.” He also uttered the words, “My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish.” During the screening of the video, different scenes of killing of Muslims also appeared on a black-chroma backdrop.
After about two minutes of Daniel’s speech the scene of his slaying appears in which the hand of a person comes across with a long knife and severs his head held in another hand by the hair. Daniel, however, appears calm as if in deep slumber. At the end of the video, running scripts slide in to read: National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistan Sovereignty (NMRPS). It states that it still demanded the “Immediate release of all US held prisoners in Guatinamo Bay Cuba”, “The return of Pakistani prisoners to Pakistan”, “The immediate end of US presence in Pakistan”, “The delivery of F-16 planes that Pakistan had paid for and never received”.
The last slide comes with a warning: “We assure Americans that they shall never be safe on the Muslim land of Pakistan. And if our demands are not met this scene shall be repeated again and again”. It is noteworthy that about one-and-a-half weeks earlier the FBI ordered a Virginia-based Internet hosting company prohosters.com to remove the videotape from ogrish.com (one of its customers which specialises in gruesome images) showing the beheading of Daniel Pearl as, according to FBI, Pearl’s family was going to file a suit against those who were putting up the video for show. The website, ogrish.com, however, removed the video and posted such remark that FBI contacted their host prohosters.com and informed the company that they were going to file a suit for putting up the Pearl video.
But just after 10 days, both companies (ogrish.com and prohosters.com) decided to put the video back online. These comments were being shown on the website: “Although the FBI doesn’t want us to show this, we think that all people out there have the RIGHT to see the Daniel Pearl video if they CHOOSE to. Banning this video would violate the 1st amendment: freedom of speech; do we want that? NO! Ogrish.com would like to thank our host and the organisation (American Civil Liberty’s Union) for supporting us. Our condolences go out to the Pearl family, our showing of this video is not against the Pearl family. Yet it is everything that Daniel Pearl stood for as a news reporter”.
Daniel Pearl went missing on January 23, 2002 outside Village Restaurant Karachi. American Consulate at Karachi received the videotape, which was delivered by unknown persons, containing scenes of Pearl’s murder on February 21. After examining the videotape the government of Pakistan formally announced Pearl dead. Four persons, Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh, Shaikh Adil, Salman Saqib and Fahad Nasim are facing trial before an ATC in Hyderabad in the Pearl murder case.
Source: The News
Date:6/3/2002
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