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Pakistan’s Supreme Court lets killers of Daniel Pearl free, US outraged

January 29, 2021
The Commune

The murderers of the Wall Street Journal’s South Asia bureau chief Daniel Pearl, have been set free by Pakistan’s Supreme Court.

The court has ruled that the four men convicted of kidnapping and murdering the American journalist should go free, and immediately the new administration of president Joe Biden has described this as an “affront to terrorism victims everywhere.”

Daniel Pearl was investigating leads in Pakistan with regards to the 9/11 terror attacks when he was abducted by a group of radical Islamic terrorists associated with the Al Qaeda. Later, the jihadists filmed Pearl’s beheading and sent it to United States officials as propaganda videos targeting hostages.

Due to pressure from the then Bush administration, four men were arrested in 2002, including British national Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, and all were given the death penalty. But in April 2020, Sindh High Court re-examined the case and ruled that that investigators did not follow lawful interrogation procedures.

The court found insufficient evidence, inconsistencies in police accounts, and forced confessions and in its ruling said, “No evidence has been brought on record by the prosecutor to link any of the appellants to the murder of Pearl.” The court added that the men had “suffered irreparable harm and extreme prejudice” after spending 18 years behind bars, and in December ordered all four to be set free. Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday (28 January) upheld that decision, ruling against appeals by both the Pearl family and Pakistani authorities.

Matt Murray, editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, said the ruling as “infuriating and unjust,” and White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the US was “outraged” by the decision.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that, “We expect the Pakistani government to expeditiously review its legal options to ensure justice is served,”. He also added that the United States was prepared to prosecute Sheikh in the US.

Pearl’s father, Judea Pearl, told CNN that family members “were in shock and total disbelief,” at the majority decision, which he described as “a crime against humanity, against journalism, against the core of our civilization. So we are very shocked and hope some steps will be taken to correct for this injustice.”

This ruling could not have come at the worst time for Pakistan as it is still on the grey-list of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and an economy that has been battered for the last two years.  

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