KARACHI:,,, Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday issued notices to the Chief Secretary Sindh and others in a contempt petition on detention of the accused of Daniel Pearl murder case.
A two-member bench of the SHC heard a contempt of court petition filed against the chief secretary, jail officials and others over the government’s failure in obedience of the court orders.
The court summoned reply from them and the jail officials on January 07.
It asked the Advocate General Sindh why the accused were not released on the court orders. The AG replied: “Issue a notice, we will submit a written reply on the matter.”
The bench declared the government notification as null and void and had ordered putting the names of accused Ahmed Omer Saeed Shaikh and others in the exit control list (ECL).
The court observed that the accused have been in jail for last 18 years and ordered the accused to appear as and when the court summon them after their release.
Provincial home department had detained the accused under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) on September 28.
Four convicts of the murder case, Ahmed Omer Saeed and others had moved the Sindh High Court (SHC) challenging their convictions handed down by the Hyderabad Anti-Terrorism Court in 2002, after finding them guilty of abducting and killing American Journalist Daniel Pearl.
The ATC had handed death sentence to main accused Ahmed Omer Saeed Shaikh and life sentences to other three accused.
The high court overturned the verdict of the ATC and acquitted convicts on April 02 this year.
The Sindh Government and the family of Daniel Pearl filed appeals against the high court verdict in Supreme Court and the case has been under hearing in the apex court. A bench of the high court had declared a notification with regard to detention of four accused in the case, Ahmed Omer Saeed Shaikh, co-accused Fahad Naseem, Salman Saqib and Sheikh Adil, as null and void and ordered their immediate release from the jail.
The 38-year-old South Asia bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal, Daniel Pearl, was researching a story on religious extremists, in January 2002 in Karachi, when he was abducted and slain.