Posted on 09/05/2002 6:02:17 PM PDT by knighthawk
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the man convicted of masterminding the abduction and murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, has ended a week-long hunger strike.
Prison officials say the convict, also known as Omar Sheikh, began a hunger strike a week ago to force the police to admit to the alleged detention of three other men suspected of abducting and murdering Mr Pearl.
Investigators have confirmed to journalists on condition of anonymity the detention of these three men, described as "the real killers" by Omar Sheikh, although the police have publicly denied making such arrests.
Omar Sheikh and three other men, Sheikh Adil, Fahad Naseem and Salman Saquib, tried and convicted of Mr Pearl's abduction and murder by an anti-terrorism court in Hyderabad jail, await the outcome of their appeal.
Prison officials have told the BBC the strike by Omar Sheikh and fellow convict Sheikh Adil had no impact on their status, that they began it "on their own" and they ended it "unconditionally".
Unconfirmed arrests
The head of prisons in Sindh province, Brigadier Nisar Mehr, told the AFP news agency that Omar Sheikh had informed prison officials on Thursday that their hunger strike had ended.
"His complaint is that if police have arrested the so-called real killers of Daniel Pearl, why are he and his colleagues suffering?" Brigadier Mehr is quoted as saying.
Omar Sheikh claims that the police have arrested Attaur Rahman, also known as Naim Bokhari, as the principal suspect in the case but have kept it a secret lest Omar Sheikh's appeal against his conviction was strengthened.
Mr Rahman is a leader of the extremist Sunni Muslim group, the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, whose members have been accused of attacking foreign and Christian targets, as well as an abortive attack on President Pervez Musharraf.
Pakistani papers have also published unconfirmed reports that Mr Rahman was detained along with fellow militant Fazal Karim who allegedly confessed to beheading Mr Pearl and whose testimony led to the recovery of Mr Pearl's body.
DNA confirmation
Unconfirmed reports have also suggested a third man, known as Dhobi, was arrested after he was found carrying a CD recording Mr Pearl's gruesome execution.
Daniel Pearl, who worked for the Wall Street Journal, was working on a report on Pakistan based Muslim militants when he went missing in Karachi on 23 January.
E-mails carrying photographs of Mr Pearl held in custody were sent to news organisations and provided the clue for the arrests of the men convicted for the murder.
Uncertainties over Mr Pearl's fate were not fully resolved until DNA tests conducted on the decapitated body found on the outskirts of Karachi confirmed its identity.
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