ISLAMABAD   -  The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday turned down the appeals of Sindh government and Daniel Pearl’s parents in the murder case of Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) Bureau Chief for South Asia.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Mushir Alam, after examining the Sindh government reply announced the short order, which said that the criminal appeals of Sindh government, criminal petitions of Daniel Pearl’s parents are dismissed, respondent (Omer Sheikh) appeal for release accepted.

The order further said that the respondents including Ahmed Omer Shaikh, Fahad Nasim Ahmad, Syed Salman Saqib and Shaikh Muhammad Adil are released forthwith if not required in any other case. 

Justice Mushir said that the detail reasoning of their short order will be announced later on.

However, Justice Yahya Afridi disagreed with other two members of the bench – Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Sardar Tariq Masood. He partly allowed the appeals of Sindh government and Daniel’s parents in the terms that Ahmed Omer Shaikh and Fahad Nasim are convicted under Sections 365-A & 120-B, PPC and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 each and sentenced to imprisonment for life on each count. He stated, “All the sentences passed against both of the convicts shall run concurrently.” However, he wrote that the benefit under section 382-B, Cr.P.C. shall be extended to them.

He dismissed the Sindh and Daniel’s parents appeals to the extent of Syed Salman Saqib and Shaikh Muhammad Adil and maintained their acquittal on all the charges, they shall be released from the jail forthwith if not required to be detained in connection with any other case. He dismissed appeal filed by Ahmed Omer Shaikh.

Daniel Pearl, Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) Bureau Chief for South Asia, was killed in Karachi in January, 2002. His wife Mariane Pearl on 04.02.2002 had filed an FIR at Artillery Maidan Police Station Karachi.

A trial court in Karachi on 15-07-2002 had convicted Ahmad Umer Saeed Sheikh and awarded him death sentence, while Adil Sheikh, Salman Saqib and Fahad Nasim were given life imprisonment under Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

However, a division bench of the SHC, Karachi, on 2nd April 2020 acquitted the accused. It also held that the subject case does not fall within the purview of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, therefore, Umer Sheikh is entitled to both remissions in accordance with the law and the benefit of Section 382-B, Criminal Procedure Code, 1898.

Despite the SHC judgment the provincial government instead of releasing the accused detained them under Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) in Karachi jail. The SHC ,therefore, on December 24, 2020 set aside the provincial government’s detention orders of four men which it had ordered eight months ago to set them free. The Sindh government has challenged that order before the apex court.

Another three-member bench of the SC, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, on January 25th, 2021, though granted leave to appeal, but declined to suspend the SHC order and said will pass an order on the stay, requested by the provincial government.

The Sindh prosecution on April 22, 2020 had filed an appeal under Article 185(3) of Constitution in the Supreme Court, while the Daniel’s parents on May 2 filed the petition against the SHC judgment.

It was the stance of the Daniel’s parents that the SHC in the impugned judgment has wrongly held that the convictions and sentences awarded by the trial court to the respondents No.2 to 4 and Ahmed Omer Shaikh could not be sustained on the basis of the standard of proof, meaning that the prosecution has not been able to prove the case against the accused persons beyond reasonable doubt and the benefit of doubt must go to the accused persons.

They have submitted that these facts are admitted, firstly, the deceased person was abducted.

Secondly, the deceased person was abducted/kidnapped for ransom as ransom emails were received and recovered. However, what is denied by the Respondents No.2 to 4 and Ahmed Omer Shaikh is their role in sending the ransom emails but not the fact that the ransom emails were actually received. Thirdly, the deceased person was brutally murdered by way of beheading.

They further submitted that a bare reading of the impugned judgment makes it evident that the Impugned Judgment creates an artificial distinction between the offences of kidnapping for ransom and abduction in the facts of this case.

According to Faisal Siddiqui, counsel for Daniel’s parents – Ruth Pearl and Judea Pearl –the main accused [Ahmed Omer Sheikh] had written letter to the Chief Justice Sindh High Court acknowledging his role in abduction for ransom of Daniel Pearl and knows who had murdered the Bureau Chief of Wall Street Journal in Pakistan. The accused has asked for remission in sentence, awarded by the trial court, he added.

Faisal Siddiqui had informed about the postmortem and the DNA reports, which confirmed that decapitated body was of Wall Street Journal journalist. He, however, contended that the SHC in its April 2020 judgment ignored these facts due to the negligence of the prosecution.