A Certain Outcome For Pearl Trial

Death sentences expected, despite lack of evidence

by Ron Allen
MSNBC
April 5, 2002
http://www.msnbc.com/news/733401.asp

 


KARACHI, Pakistan, April 5 - Behind the walls of Karachi Central Prison, four defendants are standing trial for the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Police have yet to find Pearl's body or the murder weapon. They don't yet know where or when the murder actually took place. They apparently have no witnesses who saw the killing. Still, there's every expectation here that a case based largely on circumstantial evidence will end with convictions and death sentences for all of the accused.

A Pakistani judge dismissed the chief suspect's request that the case be heard in an Islamic court.

Pearl disappeared in January in Karachi while investigating a story about Pakistani militant groups and their ties to the so-called shoe bomber Richard Reid and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

The kidnappers sent several e-mails to news organizations demanding ransom and threatening to kill Pearl before finally "butchering" him, to use the prosecutor's description of the murder. The only known confirmation is a 195-second-long videotape of his gruesome death.

The alleged mastermind of Pearl's abduction and killing, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, was in court last week as prosecutors presented the final charges against him. This time the 28-year-old British-born militant remained silent for the most part, except demanding the case be heard in an Islamic court. The judge hearing the matter in private behind closed doors dismissed that request.

KNOWLEDGE OF PEARL DEATH

In the past, Saeed had claimed in open court that he knew about Pearl's kidnapping and said he believed the reporter was dead. Those incriminating statements may or may not be used against him during the trial.

This is not the first time Saeed has been implicated in kidnapping an American. Back in 1994, he was arrested in India for abducting three Britons and an American tourist. He and his accomplices were freed five years later in exchange for the release of 155 passengers aboard an Indian airliner hijacked to Kandahar, Afghanistan. Kandahar then was the stronghold of the radical Taliban regime. It's believed Saeed fought with the Taliban and al-Qaida during the opening stages of the U.S. war on terrorism.

With the trial for kidnapping and murdering Pearl set to begin, prosecutor Raja Quereshi insists the evidence against Saeed is "improving." He claims he has more "confessional statements," but won't say from whom. There's speculation one of Saeed's co-defendants will turn against him. Another key witness is a taxi driver who reportedly dropped Pearl off outside a Karachi restaurant and saw the journalist get into a car with Saeed, never to be seen again. But the case seems to hinge on e-mail.

ELECTRONIC EVIDENCE

"We have evidence to the effect that Daniel Pearl was kidnapped by Omar Sheikh," said prosecutor Quereshi outside a Karachi courthouse recently. "We have evidence to the effect that e-mails were sent out on the behest and under the writing of Omar Sheikh."

Those e-mails reportedly have been traced to a computer hard drive belonging to one of the other defendants. Documents in Saeed's handwriting reportedly have been found - allegedly similar to the text of the e-mail messages following Pearl's kidnapping. Prosecutors say there's evidence of other e-mail correspondence between Saeed and Pearl that lured him to his death. And prosecutors say they have proof of at least one other meeting between the two men in January, near Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.

Quereshi brushes aside questions about evidence the police and prosecutors have not been able to come up with, like the victim's body, or his clothing, or the murder weapon, or a time and place for the crime.

"There are cases in which people have been sentenced to death on circumstantial evidence alone," he insists.

SPECIAL COURT

The case will be heard in Pakistan's anti-terrorism courts. The law says it must be wrapped up in just seven days. For security reasons, it will happen behind the walls of the central prison. It's unclear whether the public or media will be allowed to witness the proceedings. Most observers are predicting a quick conviction and then lengthy appeals.

"These trial courts don't enjoy tremendous credibility," said Kamran Khan, a prominent Pakistani journalist covering the case. "The judges are handpicked, and normally not many people trust these courts."

The defense has filed a motion to open up the process. But that seems unlikely given the extremely sensitive nature of the case. Some in Pakistan's government also are very concerned about what Saeed might say in court. His organization and other militant groups here have ties to Pakistan's secret intelligence agency. There are concerns he could try to implicate that government agency in the Pearl case, or other questionable dealings that could be at the very least embarrassing, or worse.

 

© 2002 MSNBC

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