Posted on 08/13/2002 3:42:59 PM PDT by knighthawk
KARACHI -- A Pakistani court decided on Tuesday to hear an appeal by British-born Islamic militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh against his death sentence for the kidnap and murder of U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl.
Defense Lawyer Abdul Waheed Katpar told reporters the high court in Sindh Province would hear the appeal in the southern port city of Karachi rather than in Hyderabad, the venue of the original trial earlier this year.
Chief Prosecutor Raj Qureshi told reporters the court had also admitted an appeal by the state to change the life terms given to three other convicted defendants to death sentences.
The lawyers said dates for the hearings had yet to be fixed, Reuters said.
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, better known as Sheikh Omar, was sentenced to death and three accomplices jailed for life in July after a trial before a special anti-terrorism court.
The trial opened on April 5 inside a jail in Karachi, the city where Pearl was kidnapped on January 23, but was moved to Hyderabad in early May because of security concerns.
Pearl, a 38-year-old reporter with the *** Wall Street Journal*** , was researching a story on Islamic militancy when he was kidnapped. A videotape later surfaced showing he had been murdered.
Police found a dismembered body in a shallow grave outside Karachi in May. The remains, eventually identified by Pakistani authorities as Pearl's, were flown back to the United States last week for burial.
Another Defense Lawyer, Mohsin Imam, said the three men given life sentences had also filed appeals against their convictions.
Trial Criticized as Unfair
Some jurists and human rights groups say the four did not have a fair trial.
Some media reports argued that the murder convictions could be overturned if it emerged that police had withheld DNA test results until the trial was over and had failed to tell the court about the arrest of a man who led them to the body for fear of complicating the case.
Katpar said last month his client's conviction had been based on "fake, false and provenly planted evidence" and that there had been a gross miscarriage of justice. He said he was "100 percent sure" of a successful appeal.
Ahmed Saeed Sheikh, the father of Sheikh Omar, told reporters outside the court on Tuesday that his son was "in high spirits".
"I met him last week, he was composed and was in high spirits," he said.
He said the defense hoped the court would throw out all the convictions. "The decision was based on injustice and was given under pressure," he said. "We expect justice will be done in this court."
The prosecution said police had traced E-mails sent to news organizations, showing Pearl in chains with a gun to his head, to the kidnap gang through an Internet cafe.
The prosecution's case was also based on evidence from a taxi driver who said he saw Pearl getting into a car with Omar.
Execution in Pakistan is carried out by hanging but usually only after an exhaustive appeals process. A life sentence generally means up to 25 years in jail.
There is no justice unless all the vermin who had anything to do with Daniel Pearl's kidnapping, torture, beheading, and mutilation are put to death. ALL OF THEM. They are vermin.
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