Daniel Pearl case: Key suspect shifted to Lahore

KARACHI: Ahmed Omar Saeed Shaikh, a British-born suspect acquitted recently of kidnapping and murdering US Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl has been shifted to Lahore from Karachi on Thursday.

He was shifted to a rest house within the premises of Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail while travelling on a plane. A strict security measures were taken during his departure from Karachi to Lahore. Sheikh’s transfer to Lahore was approved by the Supreme Court last month. His family moved the court to order his transfer to Lahore where they reside.

Daniel Pearl, 38, was the South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal when he was abducted in Karachi in January 2002. Pearl’s wife Marianne Pearl, a US national who was living in Karachi, wrote a letter to the Artillery Maidan police on February 2, 2002, stating that her husband disappeared on January 23, 2002.

Earlier in January this year, the Supreme Court ordered authorities to release Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the principal accused in the 2002 beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl, dismissing petitions against his release and acquittal (on murder charges) by the Sindh High Court.