SC conducts hearing on Sindh Govt’s appeal in Daniel Pearl murder case

The Supreme Court SC has accepted the appeals of the Sindh government against the acquittal of the convicts in the Daniel Pearl murder case for hearing.

According to the details, the SC has ordered that the accused in the Daniel Pearl murder case will not be released till next week while notices have also been issued to the parties on the pleas of acquittal.

Supreme Court said that the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) decision of overturning the conviction in the American journalist Daniel Pearl murder case could not be cancelled over hypothetical arguments.

Justice Mushir Alam, who headed the bench took up an appeal by the provincial government against the acquittal of the convicts.

Justice Qazi Ameen, a member of the bench, told the government of Sindh counsel Farooq H Naek, to present the case facts in a sequence adding that the high court decision could not be overturned over hypotheses.

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The provincial government filed an appeal against the SHC order of April 02 verdict of overturning the conviction of four convicts in the Daniel Pearl murder case.

Farooq H Naek, in his arguments, said that an email dated January 23, 2002, referred Danial Pearl’s kidnapping for ransom.

A taxi driver Nasir Abbas identified the accused before a magistrate.  The main accused Omer Saeed Sheikh was arrested on February 13, 2002.

Charges were framed against the accused on April 22, 2002, the government counsel said.

Hyderabad anti-terrorism court had awarded death sentence to key accused Omer Saeed Sheikh on July 15 in 2002, on the charges of kidnapping and killing Daniel Pearl.

However, his three associates Fahad Naseem, Syed Salman Saqib and Sheikh Muhammad Adil were handed life sentence with a fine of Rs 600,000 each.

The ATC had also directed the convicts to pay Rs two million to the victim’s widow, Marianne Pearl.

The state had filed an appeal seeking the life terms of three convicts to be converted in a death sentence.

Who Was Daniel Pearl?