KARACHI: A British-born Pakistani man who has been on death row over the 2002 killing of American journalist Daniel Pearl will remain in jail for another three months despite his acquittal by a lower court earlier this year, according to an order issued by government of Sindh on Wednesday.
The announcement of extending their detention was made by prosecutors during a hearing of the Supreme Court, which was to decide on Sheikh’s release. The apex court last week barred the government from releasing them.
Faisal Siddiqi, the lawyer representing Pearl’s family, told the media that the government prosecutor, Fiaz Shah, told the judges he needed more time for paperwork to prepare for the case.
The court accepted his argument and adjourned the hearing till October 21.
In April, a two-judge Sindh High Court bench commuted the death sentence of 46-year-old Sheikh, who was convicted in the abduction and murder of Pearl in 2002, to seven years. The court also acquitted his three aides who were serving life terms in the case – almost two decades after they were found guilty and jailed.
Two days after the Sindh High Court overturned Sheikh’s conviction, the Sindh government invoked the Maintenance of Public Order to keep the four convicts in jail. The Sindh government filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the high court verdict. Pearl’s parents also filed an appeal to the Supreme Court against the judgment of the high court to release the accused.
Pearl, the 38-year-old South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, was abducted and beheaded while he was in Pakistan investigating a story in 2002 about al-Qaeda.
