Daniel pearl
(CNN) -
The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ordered the release of four men convicted of the kidnapping and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl.
Pearl was working as the South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal in 2002 when he was kidnapped in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, while reporting on Richard Reid, the British terrorist known as the 'Shoe Bomber'. ».
The high-profile kidnapping attracted international attention, amid growing concern about the threat posed by radical Islamist terrorism.
The attackers then filmed Pearl's beheading and forwarded it to US officials.
It was one of the first hostage propaganda videos created by extremists and helped inspire other terrorist groups to film horrible and heinous acts of violence.
Terrorist escape who beheaded Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl thwarted
Four men were arrested in 2002 and convicted of Pearl's kidnapping and murder.
One, British citizen Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, was sentenced to death.
In April last year, a higher court in Sindh province, where Karachi is located, overturned the sentences of three of the four men and reduced Sheikh's sentence to seven years in prison, meaning he was eligible to be put. released for time served.
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The court said the men had "suffered irreparable harm and extreme prejudice" after spending 18 years behind bars earlier, and in December ordered the four to be released, but both the Pearl family and Pakistani authorities appealed to the court. Supreme Court of the country, which ruled against him on Thursday.
According to a statement from lawyer Faisal Siddique Said, the family was "completely shocked" by the decision, which it described as a "complete parody of justice" that would endanger journalists and the people of Pakistan.
The statement urged the US government to "take all necessary actions under the law to correct this injustice," adding that the family hoped that the Pakistani authorities would also act.
Daniel Pearl Pakistan
