/ 31 March 2002

Pearl murder suspect to be tried inside jail

Karachi | Saturday

BRITISH-BORN militant Sheikh Omar, the chief suspect in the kidnapping and murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl plans to challenge a Pakistani court’s decision to hold his trial inside jail, his lawyer said on Saturday.

”I have instructions from my client to file a petition with the Sindh High Court against the decision, as the trial inside prison will not be an open trial,” defence lawyer Abdul Waheed Katpar said.

A Karachi anti-terrorism court on Friday ordered Omar and 10 alleged accomplices to stand trial on April 5 inside Karachi’s Central Prison.

Chief public prosecutor Raja Qureshi said the Home Ministry had ordered that the trial be held inside Karachi’s Central Prison for security reasons.

Omar, the three men accused of sending e-mails containing photos of Pearl and threats to kill him, and seven others who are still at large are all charged with murder, kidnap for ransom and terrorist activities.

Omar and the three e-mailers are being held in Karachi’s Central Prison.

A decision on whether to hold a separate trial in absentia for the seven missing suspects will be made on the first day of the trial hearing, Qureshi said.

”All options are available, either to try them in absentia or to separate the four from the seven accused,” he said.

”We’ll try to decide immediately on the first day of the trial hearing on April 5,” he said.

No decision has yet been taken on whether journalists and spectators will be barred from attending the trial, Qureshi said.

But Omar’s lawyer Katpar believed the trial would be held in camera.

”For all practical purpose it will be an in camera trial and my client was not happy with the decision,” he said.

Katpar said he was likely to file the petition challenging the decision to hold the trial inside prison later Saturday.

Pearl was researching a story on Pakistani militants’ links to British shoe-bomber Richard Reid when he was kidnapped on January 23 on his way to meet an Islamic leader in this volatile port city.

A graphic video depicting him beheaded was delivered to the US consulate here on February 21.

The formal charging of Omar sets back attempts to extradite him to the US, where a federal grand jury indicted him on March 14 for Pearl’s abduction and murder, and for the 1994 abduction in India of an American tourist.

Pakistan has been resisting Washington’s attempts to extradite Omar since late February, insisting investigations had to be completed in Pakistan first.

Omar, whose full name is Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, holds both British and Pakistani nationalities. Britain has said it would not object to his extradition. – Sapa-AFP