ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan fixed the hearing of the Daniel Pearl murder case for January 18.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed constituted a three-judge bench headed by Justice Mushir Alam and comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Yahya Afridi would hear the Sindh government and the appeal of Daniel Pearl's parents against the Sindh High Court's (SHC) judgment.

The bench will hear the plea seeking suspension of the SHC's judgment regarding acquitting/ releasing the accused in Pearl's murder case.

On April 2, 2020, the SHC had commuted the death sentence of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh - the man convicted of kidnapping and murdering American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 - to a seven-year sentence.

The SHC had also acquitted three others who had been awarded life imprisonment in the case.

The slain journalist's parents had approached the Supreme Court against the Sindh High Court’s verdict.

Two criminal petitions have been filed by a lawyer Faisal Siddiqi on behalf of Pearl's parents - Ruth Pearl and Judie Pearl-against the acquittal and release of the four accused.