SC adjourns Daniel Pearl murder case till Wednesday

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday adjourned hearing of a case against acquittal of accused by the Sindh High Court (SHC) in American journalist Daniel Pearl murder case till Wednesday.

A three-member special bench of the apex court headed by Justice Mushir Alam and comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Yahya Afridi heard the appeals filed by the Sindh government and Pearl’s parents challenging the acquittal of the previously convicted men by the Sindh High Court (SHC).

The petitioners challenged the April 02 high court verdict that overturned the sentences of four convicts in the case.

During the course of proceedings, the counsel for the accused said that the apex court did not issue any order restraining the release of four arrested accused.

He said that the Sindh High Court had accepted his client's habeas corpus appeals.

He said that the Supreme Court at the request of the Sindh government had issued an interim order on September 28, 2020.

The Supreme Court had issued an interim order to not release the accused till October 7, he added.

He said that the Supreme Court rejected an application for extension of the order not to release the accused on October 7.

There had been no court order to detain the accused since October 7, he added.

He said that the Sindh government was not releasing the accused.

He said that the Sindh government had wrongly taken the position that the Supreme Court had stayed the release of the accused.

He pleaded the court to issue an explanatory order regarding the release of the accused.

The court reserved judgment on the point raised regarding the release of the accused.

Justice Mushir Alam said that the court would soon issue its order regarding the release of accused.