02 February,2021 02:44 PM IST | Islamabad | AP
Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh. Pic/AFP
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the Pakistani-British man acquitted of the 2002 gruesome beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl off death row and moved to a government "safe house."
Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh, who has been on death row for 18 years will be under guard and won't be allowed to leave the safe house, but he will be able to have his wife and children visit him.
"It is not complete freedom. It is a step toward freedom," said Sheikh's father, Saeed Sheikh, who attended the hearing.
The Pakistan government has been scrambling to keep Sheikh in jail since a Supreme Court order last Thursday upheld his acquittal in the death of Pearl generating expressions of outrage by Pearl's family and the US administration.
ALSO READ
Pakistan: Islamabad admin to block roads ahead of Imran Khan's party rally
Pakistani national charged with plotting terrorist attack in New York City; held
Islamabad sees first polio case in last 16 years
Pak’s ISI complicit with terrorists, says US ex-NSA
12 of family, mostly kids, killed in Pakistan mudslide
In a final effort to overturn Sheikh's acquittal, Pakistan government as well as the Pearl family have filed an appeal to the Supreme Court to review the decision to exonerate Sheikh of Pearl's murder.
The Pearl family lawyer, Faisal Sheikh, earlier said a review has a slim chance of success because the same Supreme Court judges who ordered Sheikh's acquittal sit on the review panel.
The US government has said that it would seek Sheikh's extradition if his acquittal is upheld. Sheikh has been indicted in the United States on Pearl's murder as well as in a 1994 kidnapping of an American citizen in Indian-ruled Kashmir. The American was eventually freed.
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.