Pakistan Supreme Court on Thursday, January 28 ordered the release of terrorist Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh who kidnapped and murdered American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002. 

A three-judge bench headed by Justice Mushir Alam dismissed the Sindh government's appeal against the Sindh high court's ruling to overturn Saeed's conviction for the 2002 beheading of Pearl and directed authorities to release him.

Omar Sheikh

The apex court dismissed the Sindh government's appeal against the Sindh High Court's (SHC) decision to overturn Sheikh's conviction, reports Dawn news. Only one member opposed the decision.

Previously, Sheikh admitted in the Supreme Court that he had played a "minor" role in the brutal killing 19 years ago. 

What is the Daniel Pearl Murder case? 

Daniel Pearl execution
Slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl execution, who was abducted and beheaded in Pakistan in 2002.Twitter

The 38-year-old South Asia bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal was doing research on religious extremism in Karachi when he was abducted in January 2002. A graphic video showing his beheading was delivered to the US consulate a month later.

Subsequently, Sheikh was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to death by a trial court. In its April 2, 2020, order, the SHC had overturned his conviction.

The provincial high court had also acquitted three other men namely Fahad Naseem, Sheikh Adil and Salman Saqib, who had been earlier sentenced to life imprisonment by an Anti-Terrorism Court in Karachi.

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