Shift Omar Sheikh to govt rest house, Pakistan top court orders in Daniel Pearl murder case

Move Omar Sheikh out of the death cell and into a government rest house, the Supreme Court ordered in the murder case of American journalist Daniel Pearl on Tuesday.

It had resumed hearing the Sindh government's review petition against the release of prime accused Omar Sheikh in the case, who was previously convicted in the murder case but later acquitted.

The apex court had stopped the release of Sheikh a day earlier on the request of the Sindh government.

But now, the SC wants Sheikh to be moved out of the death cells and moved to the general barracks for two days and then a government rest house.

During Tuesday's hearing, the attorney-general told the court that Sheikh is not an ordinary accused, but a mastermind of terrorists and that he will disappear if released.

Justice Munib Akhtar said the sacrifices of the armed forces are not denied, but the court is bound by the Constitution.

Justice Bandial remarked that Sheikh was accused of kidnapping Pearl. He asked the attorney-general whether it had been proved that Sheikh was involved in terrorist activities.

The attorney-general argued that the federation has the power to detain dangerous criminals, to which Justice Sajjad Ali Shah said that Sheikh had already been illegally detained for a month.

"The court cannot legalise your illegal actions," Justice Shah told the attorney-general.

The court said Sheikh's family will be able to visit once he is shifted to the rest house on Friday from 8am to 5pm.

Sheikh will not have access to a mobile phone or internet, the SC ordered. The government will pay for his family's accommodation and transport.

The hearing was adjourned indefinitely.

Case background

Sheikh had been convicted of masterminding the brutal murder of Pearl. his acquittal sparked global outrage while the United States called it "an affront to terrorism victims everywhere" and demanded the Pakistani government "review its legal options."

Pearl was the South Asia bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal. He 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.