https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/02/daniel-pearl-pakistani-court-overturns-death-sentence-of-accused Thu 2 Apr 2020 10.32 EDT
Daniel Pearl murder: Pakistani court overturns death sentence of accused
A British-born Islamist militant facing execution for the 2002 kidnapping and murder of the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl may walk free after a court in Pakistan commuted his sentence, and acquitted three co-accused.
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was convicted of masterminding Pearl’s murder, and sentenced to death in 2002. He has been in jail ever since awaiting the outcome of a series of appeals and legal arguments.
His conviction was showcased by Pakistan as proof of the country’s commitment to the US-led war against terrorism, launched after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 which killed 3,000 people in New York and Washington.
Sheikh’s role in the murder of Pearl has long been disputed. He is known to have been involved in the kidnapping of the journalist, who was investigating al-Qaida in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi when he disappeared in January 2002, but is thought not to have taken part in his killing.
The murder, which was filmed and the video posted online, may instead have been carried out by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the key organiser of the 9/11 attacks, who is being held at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba.