Pakistan court orders release of man charged over Daniel Pearl murder

A provincial court in Pakistan on Thursday ordered the man charged over the 2002 murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl be freed.  

Daniel Pearl's defence lawyer has said, reports The Guardian. 

The Sindh high court's release order overturns a decision by Pakistan's top court that Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the key suspect in Pearl's killing, should remain in custody. Sheikh was acquitted earlier this year of murdering Pearl, but has been held while Pearl's family appeals against the acquittal.

Sheikh's lawyer, Mehmood Sheikh, called for his client to be released immediately.

"The detention order is struck down," said Faisal Siddiqi, the Pearl family lawyer. Sheikh would be freed until the appeal was completed, he said but would be returned to prison if the family was successful in overturning the acquittal.

Sheikh was sentenced to death and three others were sentenced to life in prison for their role in the plot. But a lower Pakistani court in April acquitted him and three others, a move that stunned the US government, Pearl's family and journalism advocacy groups.

There are separate appeals against the acquittal by the government and Pearl's family, a process that under Pakistani law could take years. The government has opposed Sheikh's release, saying it would endanger the public. The supreme court will resume its hearing on 5 January.

Sheikh had been convicted of helping lure Pearl to a meeting in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi at which he was kidnapped.

Pearl had been investigating the link between Pakistani militants and Richard Reid, dubbed the "shoe bomber" after trying to blow up a flight from Paris to Miami with explosives hidden in his shoes.