Two FBI agents cross-examined in Pearl case Defence seeks dismissal of prosecution’s plea for statement of Marianne Pearl on commission
HYDERABAD- Hearing of the Daniel Pearl kidnapping and murder case was resumed on Thursday and defence lawyers cross-examined two agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigations.
Also Abdul Waheed Katpar, defence attorney for prime suspect Shaikh Omar filed an application, praying for dismissal of the prosecution’s application, seeking statement on commission of Marianne Pearl, the wife of Daniel Pearl.
Advocate-General Sindh and Chief Prosecutor in the case, Raja Qureshi, while briefing newsmen after the hearing, stated that two FBI agents were cross-examined. Four FBI agents were present in the court, headed by Judge Syed Ali Ashraf Shah.
The cross was held at length by both the defence attorneys, representing all the four accused, he said and added that both the FBI agents, Ronald Joseph and John Moligan, “could not be shattered during the extensive cross-examination”.
However, talking to newsmen, defence lawyer Rai Bashir claimed that after the cross-examination of the two FBI agents it came to surface that the e-mail was sent to release Denial Pearl.
Bashir said that during the cross-examination, FBI agent John Moligan admitted that the video-tape was edited. Bashir also claimed that the video-tape, which was provided to the FBI agent was not given to him by the FBI, rather it was prepared by Crime Investigation Authority (CIA) Inspector Hamidullah and handed over to him. He said that the names the CIA Inspector Hamidullah, Rao Aslam and Faisal Noor were written on the tape with their signatures.
He added that the seal of the envelope in which the video-tape was presented was broken at least thrice and this was also accepted by the FBI agent. He said that the report of the photograph, shown on the television network was of about 3:15 minutes, while the reported presented by him in the court was less than 3:10 minutes, which showed that the video-tape was edited.
He said that FBI agent Ronald Joseph produced the record of his arrival, which showed that he arrived in Pakistan on February 4, while the boarding passes he submitted in the court were mentioning the date of January 31. He said that the ticket presented by him was of his taking off from Karachi to Bangkok instead of arriving in Karachi.
He claimed that the e-mails, which were examined by the FBI agent were sent in connection with releasing of Pearl. He read the working of the e-mail, which said: “We are although weak as compared to other countries of the World but we are not modest. We have interrogated Denial Pearl and have come to the conclusion that the contrary to what we thought earlier he is not working for the CIA therefore we are releasing him unconditionally.”
Bashir said that the FBI agent had obtained three files from the examined laptop but it was still not known that whose property was that. He said that FBI agent had got three files from the laptop while he was submitting the record of five computer data files, which were from JPG 1 to 5.
He said that a 65-page report submitted by the FBI agent in the court, relating to the laptop had no record with regard to Denial Pearl and his photos. He added the agent had not traced about sources from where he had got the laptop. Rai Bashir said that the FBI agent agreed that the laptop might be hacked by somebody and it was possible because the computers of Pantagon are hacked 50,000 time daily.
Abdul Waheed Katpar filed the application for dismissal of the prosecution’s application, seeking statement on commission of Marianne Pearl. Katpar stated in his plea that the application of the advocate-general was not maintainable because no medical certificate had been appended to show that she was on the family way. The application would be argued on May 17.
They copy said that no request or application from the witness, Marianne Pearl has been brought on record to show that the lady in question seeks exemption from attending the court on any ground. It said that the AG may be asked to show any single case, where, a lady has been examined on commission, simply because she happened to be on the family way (pregnant).
It said that the grant of the application under section 503 would open the Pandora Box of the problems to be faced by the poor accused persons adding that the case does not fall under the spectrum of section 503 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and is liable to be dismissed. The court put off the hearing of the case for May 17, when the application of forming the commission would be argued, while more witnesses are likely to be produced by the prosecution.
Source: The News
Date:5/17/2002
” 
” 
” 
” 
” 
