Sindh govt to file petition against Omar Saeed Sheikh's release: Wahab

The Government of Sindh will be filing a petition against the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) order of releasing Omar Saeed Sheikh, convicted in the abduction and murder case of US journalist Daniel Pearl.

Sindh government Spokesperson Murtaza Wahab said that the petition will be filed on Monday. “They are not likely to be released today because the court order will reach the prison and legal opinion will be sought on it,” Wahab told Samaa.

On Thursday, the SHC had ordered the immediate release of Ahmed Omer Saeed Sheikh, Fahad Naseem, Salman Saqib and Sheikh Adil accused in the case. The high court had declared the detention orders of the accused as null and void.

In April, the SHC downgraded Sheikh's conviction to the lesser crime of kidnapping. It commuted Sheikh’s death sentence to seven years and fined him Rs2,000,000. Sheikh has already spent 18 years in prison on death row and his seven-year sentence for kidnapping was counted as time served.

The high court also acquitted the three others in the case. However, the Sindh government had placed all four under 90-day detention under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance, after their acquittal.

In January 2002, the South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped in Karachi while researching a story about religious extremists in Karachi. A graphic video showing Pearl’s decapitation was delivered to the US consulate in Karachi nearly a month after he was kidnapped.

Later, the same year, Sheikh was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court.