Daniel Pearl case: SC orders immediate release of prime accused Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh.

ISLAMABAD -- The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday dismissed three appeals of the Sindh government and acquitted the accused of the 2002 murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl.

A bench of the apex court headed by Justice Mushir Alam and comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Yahya Afridi announced a brief verdict over the appeals of the Sindh government against the Sindh High Court's April 2020 decision. The court has also dismissed two appeals filed by the wife of the Daniel Pearl.

In the majority verdict a member of the bench wrote his note of dissent. Four convicts of the murder case, British national Ahmed Omer Saeed Shaikh, co-accused Fahad Naseem, Salman Saqib and Sheikh Adil had moved the Sindh High Court (SHC) in 2002 challenging their convictions handed down by the Hyderabad Anti-Terrorism Court after finding them guilty of abducting and killing American Journalist Daniel Pearl.

The provincial government had approached the top court against an order of the Sindh High Court (SHC) overturning the conviction of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh in the 2002 murder of the American journalist in Karachi.

The apex court is also separately hearing appeals against the high court's earlier acquittal of Sheikh, a decision on which has not been announced as yet.

'The court has come out to say that there is no offence that he has committed in this case,' Mahmood A. Sheikh, who represented Sheikh, told media. Mahmood Sheikh said 'The Supreme Court of Pakistan has given a verdict today which in my view will show to the world that we have our constitution and we have our own laws and our judiciary can take decisions free from any influence whatsoever at all from any quarter; however strong the person may be or the country may be which is trying to influence the process of justice in Pakistan'.

He said that 'The judgment of the court is that these four people who were accused of kidnapping Daniel Pearl and allegedly murdering him that judgment which was given by the trial court in 2002 has been set aside finally and put to rest, the court has come to the conclusion that the Sindh High Court was absolutely right in its judgment whereby three of the accused were...