A former British public schoolboy convicted of killing US journalist Daniel Pearl has launched an appeal against his death sentence in Pakistan. Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, 46, has been on death row for almost 18 years after being found guilty of kidnapping and beheading the Wall Street Journal reporter in 2002. Sheikh, from Wanstead, East London, is believed to have become radicalised while studying at the London School of Economics and fought as a jihadi in Bosnia and Pakistan. Mr Pearl contacted Sheikh while investigating links between Pakistan and British ‘shoe bomber’ Richard Reid. They agreed to meet in Karachi in January 2002, but the journalist was snatched by Sheikh.

Source: Daily Mail March 21, 2020 22:52 UTC