An appeal by Sheikh Omar sentenced to death for killing US reporter Daniel Pearl got under way on Monday at a court in Pakistan after a delay of more than four years. "The entire defence team is there" and had begun to present their case to the judge, public prosecutor Raja Qureshi told reporters outside the court in Karachi.
Sheikh Omar, 32, was not in court for the hearing. He is being kept at a high-security jail in the city, but his father was present, an AFP reporter in the court said. Defence lawyers opened their argument by telling the panel of two judges the verdict was unfair because they had not been able to interview Pearl's widow Mariane.
The court will later hear a prosecution move which seeks to convert the life sentences received by three other men convicted alongside Sheikh Omar to death sentences. Lawyers say they expect the hearing to take about a week although the judges may defer their decision.