By KATHY GANNON, Associated Press
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered the release Thursday of a Pakistani-British man convicted and later acquitted in the beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.
The court also dismissed an appeal of Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh’s acquittal by Pearl’s family and the Pakistani government. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Sheikh would be freed Thursday; the government of the province where he is being held has previously refused to honor such release orders.
“The Pearl family is in complete shock by the majority decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to acquit and release Ahmed Omer Sheikh and the other accused persons who kidnapped and killed Daniel Pearl,” the Pearl family said in a statement released by their lawyer, Faisal Siddiqi.
The brutality of Pearl’s killing shocked many in 2002, years before the Islamic State group regularly began releasing videos of their beheadings of journalists. An autopsy report…
— to www.usnews.com
