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Zia Mazhar / AP
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a man convicted and later acquitted of Pearl’s murder in 2002, admitted to a “minor” role in her death, disrupting 18 years of denial, the Pearl family’s attorney said.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday ordered the release of a Pakistani man convicted and later acquitted for the gruesome beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.
The court also dismissed an appeal from the acquittal of Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh by Pearl’s family.
Sheikh has been on death row since his conviction for Pearl’s death in 2002.
His lawyer said Sheikh “shouldn’t have spent a day in jail.”
Lawyer Mehmood A Sheikh, with no relative, said the court ordered that three other Pakistanis, who had been sentenced to life in prison for their role in Pearl’s abduction and death, also be released.
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“Today’s decision is a complete parody of justice and the release of these killers puts journalists around the world and the people of Pakistan in danger,” the Pearl family said in a statement issued by their lawyer.
Waseem Khan / AP
Faisal Siddiqi, left, is a lawyer for the family of Daniel Pearl, an American reporter who was kidnapped and killed in Pakistan.
Washington previously said it would demand that Sheikh be extradited to the United States to stand trial there.
There was no immediate reaction from the US Embassy to the court order confirming the appeal.
Pearl disappeared on January 23, 2002, while investigating militant ties to the so-called terrorist.
His body was discovered in a shallow grave shortly after a gruesome video of his beheading was delivered to the US consulate in Karachi.
