Judge excuses himself from hearing convicts’ review appeals 

Karachi

A judge of the Sindh High Court (SHC), Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto on Tuesday excused himself from hearing review appeals of convicts of the US journalist Daniel Pearl’s kidnapping and murder case and directed the office to not place the matter before a bench of which he was a member.

The hearing was adjourned due to the absence of the appellants counsel despite repeatedly being sent notices. The case would now be referred to the SHC chief justice for constitution of another bench. The appeals have been pending before the SHC since 2002.

He was heading the bench hearing the appeals against convicts Ahmed Omer Sheikh and three others against the court verdicts.

According to the prosecution, Pearl, - a US national and South Asia bureau chief of Wall Street Journal - was kidnapped on January 23, 2002 from Karachi and later beheaded by his captors after their demands were not fulfilled by the US government.

Sheikh, who was said to be the main accused was sentenced to death for Pearl’s kidnapping and killing while his three accomplices – Fahad Naseem, Syed Salman Saqib and Sheikh Muhammad Adil – were sentenced to life imprisonment with a fine of Rs500,000 imposed on each of them by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) of Hyderabad on July 15, 2002.

Hashim, Asim alias Qasim, Hassan, Ahmed Bhai, Imtiaz Siddiqui and Amjad Farooqui were declared proclaimed offenders by the trial court.