SC adjourns Daniel Pearl murder case till Wednesday

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday adjourned hearing of a case against acquittal of accused by the Sindh High Court (SHC) in American journalist Daniel Pearl murder case till Wednesday.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Mushir Alam and comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Yahya Afridi heard the appeals filed by the Sindh government and Pearl’s parents challenging the acquittal of the previously convicted men by the Sindh High Court (SHC). The petitioners challenged the April 02 high court verdict that overturned the sentences of four convicts in the case.

During the course of proceedings, advocate Mahmood A Sheik counsel for the accused while continuing his arguments said that the purchase of a printer and scanner was described as part of a conspiracy. The shopkeeper from whom the printer and scanner were purchased did not give any receipt, he added.

He said if the accused had to buy goods for the crime, they would not have given their correct names to the shopkeeper. The accused were in police custody at the time of purchase of the printer and scanner, he added.

He said that the shopkeeper during the investigation stated that he sold the computer while he changed his stance before the court. Police recovery memo was fake and full of lies, he alleged.

Addressing the counsel, Justice Yahya Afridi asked him to inform the court about something new as his arguments were also narrated by other counsel.

The counsel said that main accused Ahmed Omar Sheikh did not make any confessional statement. The then Foreign Office spokesman had stated that everything was happening from India, he added.

He said that Ahmed Omar Sheikh asked the police not to hand him over to the United States.

He alleged that the international lobby was mobilized whenever there were trial proceedings. There was an impression that if Ahmed Omar Sheikh was acquitted, he would be handed over to the United States, he added.