Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

British-born man convicted and acquitted of Daniel Pearl murder to leave prison

A British-born militant sentenced to death for the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl was ordered to be let out of prison Thursday (25) by Pakistan's Supreme Court in the latest twist to a legal saga spanning nearly two decades.

The court said, however, that Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh should remain in custody in accommodation similar to that given to prison staff while another appeal is considered.


Sheikh and three accomplices have been behind bars since 2002 when they were convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Pearl -- at the time the South Asia bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal.

Since then they have won and lost a series of appeals and counter-appeals in connection with the case, with a top court last year overturning their murder convictions.

That decision meant they had completed their sentences on the kidnapping charge, and the court in January ordered them to be released.

They were kept in custody, however, as the provincial and federal governments -- as well as Pearl's family -- launched another petition to keep them behind bars.

On Thursday, the court said they should be confined to prison staff accommodation during the process.

"We are not satisfied with the continuous detention of this person," Justice Umar Ata Bandial told the court.

"The detainee Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh shall be accommodated in a government building in which officers of jail reside."

Lawyers said Sheikh will likely be transferred from Karachi to Lahore, his ancestral home.

It was not immediately clear when the judges would make a final ruling on the case proper, or if prosecutors have exhausted all avenues of appeal.

US-Pakistan friction

The case has caused enormous friction between Islamabad and Washington despite officials in both capitals being convinced of Sheikh's complicity in Pearl's death.

At his original trial, the now 47-year-old did not deny being behind the plot to kidnap the American, but said he was not responsible for his brutal beheading, which was filmed and broadcast on the internet.

In a transcript released by the Pentagon in 2007, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- one of Osama bin Laden's most trusted lieutenants and the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks -- told a military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay that he had slit Pearl's throat.

He is still in US custody awaiting trial on myriad charges that carry the death penalty.

Omar Sheikh was born in London to middle-class Pakistani immigrant parents and attended private schools before starting a degree at the London School of Economics.

But the hulking 1.9-metre-tall (six feet two inches) amateur boxer dropped out in his first year and began delivering aid to support Muslims besieged by Serbs during the Bosnian war in the 1990s.

In his biography 'In the Line of Fire', former Pakistan military chief and president Pervez Musharraf said Sheikh had been recruited by Britain's MI6 spy agency, but went rogue after becoming radicalised when he moved to Pakistan.

In 1994, posing as a Hindu in Indian-ruled Kashmir, Sheikh arranged the kidnapping of four foreign tourists to demand the release of jailed Islamic militants.

He was captured in a shootout and imprisoned in New Delhi, but freed in a hostage exchange in 1999 when militants hijacked an Indian Airlines flight and forced it to land in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

He lured Pearl to his death in Karachi by pretending to be a media-friendly intermediary with access to extremists.

Pearl's widow Mariane, a French journalist, wrote a book of her husband's life titled 'A Mighty Heart', which was turned into a movie co-produced by Brad Pitt and starring Angeline Jolie.

Washington has previously asked Pakistan to hand Sheikh to US authorities if he is ever freed.

More For You

'Hundreds of million pounds can be saved by abolishing NHS'

Keir Starmer speaks with medical staff during a visit to the Elective Orthopaedic Centre at Epsom Hospital in Epsom, England. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

'Hundreds of million pounds can be saved by abolishing NHS'


HUNDREDS of millions of pounds could be saved and patient waiting lists reduced as prime minister Keir Starmer announced plans to abolish NHS England, the body overseeing the state-funded health system.

In a speech delivered in Hull, Starmer explained his decision to streamline the National Health Service's management structure: "I can't, in all honesty, explain to the British people why they should spend their money on two layers of bureaucracy."

Keep ReadingShow less
Early risers in the UK witness stunning Blood Moon eclipse

The lunar eclipse of Friday may not have been as dramatic as the total eclipses seen in other parts of the world

iStock

Early risers in the UK witness stunning Blood Moon eclipse

In the early hours of Friday morning, stargazers across the UK were treated to a partial lunar eclipse, with many enthusiasts rising before dawn to catch a glimpse. The celestial event, which saw the Earth's shadow partially covering the Moon, began at 05:09 GMT. Although only partial for most UK observers, it still presented a spectacular sight, with western parts of the country and regions further afield, such as the Americas and some Pacific islands, witnessing the eclipse.

For some, like Kathleen Maitland, the experience was magical. Stargazing from Pagham Harbour in West Sussex, she described the beauty of watching the Moon gradually darken and transform into a reddish hue, with the sunrise unfolding behind her. The eclipse gave rise to the so-called "blood Moon," a phenomenon that occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth’s shadow, turning a dusky red as sunlight is refracted through the Earth's atmosphere.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sangam Foundation celebrates Women's Day

From L- Reetu Kabra, Maya Sondhi, Shobu Kapoor and Meera Syal during Sangam Foundation's Women's Day celebrations.

Sangam Foundation celebrates Women's Day

HUNDREDS of women gathered for the International Women's Day celebrations of Sangam Foundation last week. Prominent actresses Meera Syal, Shobhu Kapoor and Maya Sondhi have attended the event, a statement said.

The British Asian celebrities shared their experiences of breaking into an industry rife with misogyny and prejudice. The industry veterans also talked about challenges they faced in a male-dominated field.

Keep ReadingShow less
Asian tycoon Sudhir Choudhrie  backs Liberal
Democrats with £23,000

Sudhir Choudhrie

Asian tycoon Sudhir Choudhrie  backs Liberal Democrats with £23,000

BUSINESSMAN Sudhir Choudhrie has emerged as one of the biggest British Asian donors to the Liberal Democrats in the last quarter of 2024, according to the latest data from the Electoral Commission.

Choudhrie, currently an advisor on India to the leader of the Liberal Democrats, contributed on six different occasions to the party between October and December 2024, totalling more than £23,000. He contributed in a similar fashion in the previous quarter as well.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sunak is ‘content in his MP role
and has no desire to move to US’

(From left) Rishi Sunak with wife Akshata Murty, and parents Usha and Yashvir Sunak

Sunak is ‘content in his MP role and has no desire to move to US’

RISHI SUNAK “loves being an MP” and has no intention of flying to California to begin a new life in America, as his enemies alleged during the general election campaign last year.

And, unlike Boris Johnson, he is not striving to be prime minister again, even though he is still only 44.

Keep ReadingShow less