Pakistani Supreme Court tosses charges against man convicted in murder plot against Daniel Pearl
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Pakistan’s Supreme Court has tossed all charges against the man believed to be behind the kidnapping and murder of
Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was captured and beheaded in 2002 as he investigated Pakistani terrorist groups in the wake of 9/11.
Pearl, a 38-year-old Jewish American, was in Karachi following leads on al Qaeda and Richard Reid, the British-born “Shoe Bomber." After being abducted, Pearl was beheaded on video by al Qaeda operatives on Feb. 1, 2002.
In April of last year, a Pakistani court overturned the conviction of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was found guilty of the kidnapping and murder of Pearl. Sheikh had his death sentence voided by a two-person judicial panel, which tossed most of the charges against the British-born man and reduced his sentence to seven years. Sheikh has been behind bars for 18 years, and a Pakistani tribunal ruled in December that Sheikh must now be set free. Three other men convicted in the plot, Sheikh Mohammed Adi, Fahad Saleem, and Sayed Salman Saqib, also had convictions overturned last year.