Won’t allow Pearl murder suspect to evade justice: US

ISLAMABAD: The US warned on Wednesday it won’t allow a Pakistani man, who was convicted and later acquitted in the 2002 murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl, to evade justice after a provincial court in Pakistan ordered his release. The warning from acting US Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen comes days after the Sindh High Court overturned a government detention order that Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the key suspect in Pearl’s slaying, should remain in custody.

“We understand that Pakistani authorities are taking steps to ensure that Omar Sheikh remains in custody while the Supreme Court appeal seeking to reinstate his conviction continues,” Rosen said in a statement released by the US Department of Justice. “The separate judicial rulings reversing his conviction and ordering his release are an affront to terrorism victims everywhere.” Rosen praised Pakistan for appealing the rulings to ensure that Sheikh and his co-defendants are held accountable. “If, however, those efforts do not succeed, the United States stands ready to take custody of Omar Sheikh to stand trial here,” he said. Rosen said the US “cannot allow (Sheikh) to evade justice for his role in Daniel Pearl’s abduction and murder.”