DOJ Ready to Prosecute Terrorist for 2002 Death of Wall Street Journal Reporter

(Photo : Getty Images/Getty Images)
UNDATED PHOTO: This undated photo shows Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journal newspaper reporter kidnapped by Islamic militants in Karachi, Pakistan. The Wall Street Journal announced February 21, 2002 that Pearl has been confirmed dead, presumably murdered by his abductors. The British-born Islamic militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was sentenced to death July 15, 2002 by a Pakistani court for the kidnap and death of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Three accomplices were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The United States Department of Justice is prepared to indict the United Kingdom-born terrorist who participated in the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

Omar Sheikh Ready to Be Prosecuted

Pakistani police officials took Omar Sheikh into custody in 2002 in connection to the abduction of Pearl.

According to the DOJ on Tuesday, the United States is willing to arrest the man convicted of the plot to kidnap and murder Pearl in 2002 following Pakistani courts' order of his release from imprisonment.

Pearl, 38, was in Karachi probing into Pakistani terrorist groups, following leads on al Qaeda and Richard Reid, the United Kingdom-born "Shoe Bomber," reported Washington Examiner.

Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen made the announcement, which came a few days after a Pakistani court commanded the release of Sheikh and three other men charged with the kidnapping and killing. Sheikh, the key suspect in the incident, was acquitted earlier this 2020 but has remained detained as Pearl's family appeals the acquittal to the Supreme Court, reported USA Today.

Sheikh was sentenced to death in 2020, but a Pakistani court upended the conviction in April. A provincial court ordered his release on December 24.

Following his abduction, Pearl was beheaded on footage by al Qaeda operatives on February 1, 2002.

According to Rosen, "We understand that Pakistani authorities are taking steps to ensure that Omar Sheikh remains in custody while the Supreme Court appeal seeking to reinstate his conviction continues. The separate judicial rulings reversing his conviction and ordering his release are an affront to terrorism victims everywhere."

Authorities from Pakistan are appealing the acquittal and the order to discharge Sheikh.

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Rosen stated the rulings acquitting Sheikh and ordering his release are an indignity to terrorist victims. He added the Justice Department is prepared to take him in custody so he could stand trial in the US if efforts to reinstitute his conviction in Pakistan are unsuccessful.

Rosen remarked in a statement, "We understand that Pakistani authorities are taking steps to ensure that Omar Sheikh remains in custody while the Supreme Court appeal seeking to reinstate his conviction continues," reported The Epoch Times.

"We remain grateful for the Pakistani government's actions to appeal such rulings to ensure that he and his co-defendants are held accountable. If, however, those efforts do not succeed, the United States stands ready to take custody of Omar Sheikh to stand trial here." He added they could not allow him to escape justice for his participation in Daniel Pearl's kidnapping and murder.

The overturning in April tossed most of the charges against the suspect and reduced his sentence to seven years. Sheikh has been imprisoned for 18 years, and a Pakistani court ruled last week that Sheikh should be freed.

In 2002, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft declared a grand jury indictment against the suspect for acts of terrorism against Pearl and an American tourist who was abducted in India in 1994.

The indictment alleged that Sheikh spearheaded a conspiracy to prompt Pearl to a meeting with a fictitious source in the city of Karachi.