Pakistan re-arrests US journalist’s killer after conviction overturned

British Pakistani man to remain in custody for three months pending a Supreme Court ruling

epa08340411 A Pakistani Security official stands guard at a checkpoint after the Sindh government announced complete lockdown to prevent people from participating in congregational Friday prayers in mosques, amid the ongoing coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic in Karachi, Pakistan, 03 April 2020. Countries around the world are taking increased measures to stem the widespread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus which causes the Covid-19 disease. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBERShow less

A Pakistani provincial government on Friday ordered the man convicted of kidnapping and killing a US journalist in 2001 to remain in custody for three months after a separate court overturned his death sentence.

The Superintendent of Karachi’s Central Prison, Hasan Sehtoo, said he received an order from the Sindh provincial government saying British-Pakistani Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh’s release would threaten public safety.

The government ordered him detained as it appeals to the Pakistan Supreme Court to have his murder conviction reinstated.

Saeed was found guilty of murder and kidnapping in the 2002 death of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and sentenced to death. On Thursday, the Sindh High Court overturned his murder conviction and sentenced him to seven years for the kidnapping.

Pearl disappeared January 23, 2002 in Karachi while researching links between Pakistani militants and Richard C. Reid, who became known as the “shoe bomber” after he was arrested on a flight from Paris to Miami with explosives in his shoes.

Prosecutors said Saeed lured Pearl into a trap by promising to arrange an interview with an Islamic cleric who he said was connected. Police do not believe the religious figure was involved in the conspiracy.