Islamabad:
A lawyer representing the parents of US journalist Daniel Pearl has made a handwritten letter in Pakistan’s Supreme Court in which the crucial accused in the case claimed that he was a “scapegoat” arrested beneath “US pressure” and the true mastermind was a Karachi-primarily based terrorist.
Pearl, the 38-year-old South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped and beheaded even though he was in Pakistan investigating a story in 2002 on the hyperlinks involving the country’s highly effective spy agency ISI and al-Qaeda.
British-born al-Qaeda leader Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and his 3 aides have been convicted and sentenced in the abduction and murder case of Pearl. In April, they have been exonerated by the Sindh High Court and an appeal against their acquittal is getting heard in the Supreme Court.
According to a Express Tribune report on Sunday, Faisal Siddiqui, counsel for Pearl’s parents, has made the handwritten letter in the Supreme Court in which Sheikh claimed that the true culprit was a terrorist, Attaur Rehman, from Karachi.
Siddiqui told the leading court that the letter was submitted to the Sindh High Court on July 19, 2019.
In the letter, Sheikh claimed that he was “a scapegoat” arrested on the “US pressure” and that the true culprit was Rehman.
The letter was made throughout a hearing of the appeals against the acquittal of the 4 accused in the Pearl murder case. A 3-judge unique bench led by Justice Mushir Alam heard the appeals of the Sindh government and Pearl’s parents, Ruth and Judie Pearl, against the higher court ruling.
Siddiqui contended that the bench should take into account it. However, the leading court will determine on it on the subsequent date of hearing on January 4, the report stated.
Sheikh additional stated in his letter that he had been in prison beneath the death sentence considering that 2002, charged and convicted for the abduction and murder of Pearl. However, it was on public record that neither did he kidnapped Pearl nor did he murder him and it had been acknowledged by the US government and by Pakistan”s former president Pervez Musharraf in his book.
Sheikh stated his part in this case was a somewhat minor one particular, which did not warrant the death sentence, adding that he had currently served in prison — most of which has been in illegal solitary confinement.
According to the letter, the stress on the Pakistan government at the time (in 2002) by the US was so intense that Sheikh was utilised as a “scapegoat” to lessen that stress.
“Therefore, evidence was fabricated against me to convict me of the abduction and murder of Daniel Pearl,” Sheikh claimed.
“Later, when the person (Rehman alias Naeem Bukhari) who actually abducted Daniel was arrested, he was not charged with the case because to do so would have exposed the lies and perjured evidence that the Musharraf government used to convict me,” he added.
The letter claimed that regardless of Rs 1 million reward funds on Rehman — since of his part in the case — he was not produced in court but was kept in secret illegal custody of the Rangers for 5 years, then in Sukkur jail for two years and charged only with a fabricated case of possession of drugs.
After Rehman’s release, he is alleged to have organised some of the most devastating attacks Karachi has ever noticed, like blowing up of the Rangers Headquarters in Nazimabad, exactly where he was previously secretly held, Sheikh claimed.
The letter also claimed that if Ata was executed then the proof, which would prove the truth about Pearl”s case, would be lost forever. Therefore, Sheikh requested the court to pass a keep order that would make certain that Rehman was not executed till testified in the Pearl case.
“The court is also requested to arrange for the hearing of this appeal without further delay on a day to day basis and to summon both me and Rehman to the court for hearing so that I may be exonerated of the fabricated charges against me and given an opportunity to clarify my actual role in this matter so that my sentence may be reduced, accordingly to one which is consistent with the requirements of justice,” the letter stated.
Two days right after the Sindh High Court overturned Sheikh”s conviction in April, the Sindh government invoked the Maintenance of Public Order to maintain the 4 convicts in jail.
Though exonerated by the court, the Sindh government has refused to set Sheikh free of charge citing that he could pose a threat to public order.