KARACHI, Pakistan — A Pakistani court on Thursday ordered the release of four men being held over the 2002 abduction and killing of the American journalist Daniel Pearl, arguing that they had been acquitted months ago, and that their continued detention was illegal. “These men have been rotting in jail for 18 years without committing any crime,” the presiding judge said, according to local media reports. Mr. Pearl, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, was abducted and killed in the southern port city of Karachi while working on an investigation about militant groups’ links to Al Qaeda. In April, the High Court in Sindh Province overturned the murder conviction of Ahmed Omar Sheikh, a British national and militant accused of masterminding Mr. Pearl’s abduction and killing. They said there was enough evidence against Mr. Sheikh to support the abduction charge, but not murder.

Source: International New York Times December 24, 2020 15:33 UTC