The Supreme Court has fixed for hearing a review petition filed by the Sindh government against the acquittal of Omar Sheikh, the man convicted for the brutal kidnap and murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl.
A three-member bench will hear the plea on February 1.
Sheikh was acquitted and his released ordered by the Supreme Court on Thursday, after a three-member bench headed by Justice Mushir Alam announced the verdict with a 2-1 majority.
The Supreme Court, in its decision, upheld the verdict of the Sindh High Court which had also ordered his release. The Sindh government had then appealed the Sindh High Court’s decision at the top court, the decision for which was announced on Thursday.
Sindh govt’s petition
Following orders by the SC for Sheikh’s immediate release, the Sindh government said that it will file a review petition.
The petition, filed on Friday by the prosecutor general Sindh, also requested for an early hearing of the matter.
“Being aggrieved of and dissatisfied with the judgement of the Full Bench of this Hon’ble Court Comprising Mr Justice Mushir Alam, Mr Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Mr Justice Yahya Afridi (the latter partly dissenting) in Criminal Appeal No.601 of 2020 dated 28.01.21, the petitioner files the instant Criminal Review Petition for Leave to Appeal on questions of law, facts and ground,†the petition stated.
It pleaded the court to review its verdict and reinstate their sentences as there were certain loopholes in the short order.
The PG also sought one week to submit more documents in the case.
US ‘outraged’
The administration of President Joe Biden on Thursday expressed its displeasure over the acquittal and offered to prosecute the accused in the United States.
The White House is “outraged by the Pakistani Supreme Court’s decision,” chief spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters, calling the ruling “an affront to terrorism victims everywhere” and demanded the Pakistani government “review its legal options.”
Furthermore, the newly appointed US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken today talked to Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and urged him to “ensure accountability†in the Daniel Pearl murder case.
Secretary Blinken urges Pakistan to ‘ensure accountability’ in Daniel Pearl’s murder
Who was Daniel Pearl?
Pearl, the South Asia bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, was researching a story about militants when he was abducted in Karachi in January 2002.
Nearly a month later, after a string of ransom demands, a graphic video showing his decapitation was given to officials.
Sheikh, a British-born extremist who once studied at the London School of Economics and had been involved in previous kidnappings of foreigners, was arrested days after Pearl’s abduction.
He was later sentenced to death by hanging after telling a Karachi court that Pearl had already been killed days before the gruesome video of the journalist’s beheading had been released.
Pearl’s family on Thursday called the decision to free him “a travesty of justice” and pleaded for US intervention in the case.
“The release of these killers puts in danger journalists everywhere and the people of Pakistan. We urge the US government to take all necessary
