LAHORE: Daniel Pearl murder case accused Ahmed Omer Saeed Shaikh has been transferred to Lahore due to security concerns.

The Sindh Police has handed over Ahmed Saeed Shaikh to the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and the accused has been shifted to Chauhang CTD Cell in Lahore, according to sources.

Omer Saeed Shaikh has been sent to Lahore owing to security concerns in Sindh, sources said.

The Supreme Court had dismissed the appeal of the Sindh government and acquitted the accused and three co-accused of the 2002 murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl in January.

The government again filed a review petition against the court’s decision. Ahmed Saeed Shaikh has been still has been still under detention.

Four convicts of the murder case, British national Ahmed Omer Saeed Shaikh, co-accused Fahad Naseem, Salman Saqib and Sheikh Adil had moved the Sindh High Court in 2002 challenging their convictions handed down by the Hyderabad Anti-Terrorism Court after finding them guilty of abducting and killing American Journalist Daniel Pearl.

The high court overturned the verdict of the ATC and acquitted convicts on April 02, 2020. Subsequently, the Sindh government filed an appeal in the SC challenging their acquittal.

The 38-year-old South Asia bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal, Daniel Pearl, was researching for a story on religious extremists in January 2002 in Karachi, when he was abducted and slain.

Justice KK Agha and Justice Zulfiqar Ali Sangi issued verdict on appeals, lodged by the suspects against their sentences, after 18 years and acquitted the other three accused in the case who had been handed over life terms earlier. NNI