The United States “stands ready to take custody” of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the prime suspect in the kidnapping and murder by beheading of US journalist Daniel Pearl in February 2002.
The US is ready to put Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh on trial after a Pakistani court overturned his murder conviction and ordered him released from jail The Media Line — The United States “stands ready to take custody” of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the prime suspect in the kidnapping and murder by beheading of US journalist Daniel Pearl in February 2002. Jeffrey A. Rosen, acting US Attorney General, said in a statement Tuesday that the United States will put Sheikh on trial if an appeal to reinstate his murder conviction in a top Pakistani provincial court fails. Sheikh, a British national of Pakistani origin, was convicted and sentenced to death for killing Pearl, but his conviction was overturned by a Pakistani court in April. Pearl, The Wall Street Journal’s South Asian bureau chief, had been investigating a story about the alleged financing of al-Qaida via Pakistan-based militants.
