Auggie Doggie
03-22-2002, 05:43 PM
The brainless Pakistani Terrorists who are belived to have killed WSJ reporter Daniel Pearl have been arested on that charge, messing with the US Government's Heads, Making Pakistani Citizens, and Muslims, look evil and, to sum it all up, Kiddnapping Danny in the first place.
Here is what The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/), the NYC paper my family subscribes to, sez:
March 22, 2002
Suspects in U.S. Reporter's Death Charged With Murder
By Raymond Bonner
SLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 22 — A 28-year old Muslim militant, Ahmed Omar Sheikh, was formally charged today with the kidnapping and murder of the American journalist Daniel Pearl. The move is likely to seriously complicate and possibly thwart American attempts to have Mr. Sheikh handed over to the United States for prosecution.
Pakistani officials said that a key factor in deciding — at least for now —against handing over Mr. Sheikh to the Americans was the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency, which apparently feared that Mr. Sheikh might reveal links between the agency and militant Islamic groups.
Mr. Sheikh and an accused accomplice, Sheikh Mohammed Adeel, were escorted to the court in Karachi today by two dozen armored personnel carriers mounted with machine guns. Two other suspects in custody who have also been charged with kidnapping and murder were not present. Seven other suspects who remain at large also face the same charges.
The prosecutor in the case, Raja Qureshi, said on Thursday that he was confident that Mr. Sheikh would be found guilty in a trial that he said would be over within two weeks.
"I think the circumstantial evidence, coupled with the testimony of the experts and the e-mails, will lead to a conviction," Mr. Qureshi said in a telephone interview from Karachi, where Mr. Pearl was kidnapped and the trial will be held.
Mr. Qureshi said the police had recovered documents in Mr. Sheikh's handwriting, which then became e-mail messages. The kidnappers sent those e-mail messages to news organizations and others, threatening to kill Mr. Pearl unless their demands were met. F.B.I. investigators, who have been helping in the case, found the e-mail messages on the hard drive of a computer belonging to another defendant, Mr. Qureshi said.
Legal experts said the filing of charges would make it more difficult for Pakistan to hand Mr. Sheikh over to the United States for prosecution, as the Bush administration wants.
"If no charges had been filed, a court could have readily handed him over," Akram Sheikh, former head of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said Thursday evening. Now, "he cannot be flown abroad until his trial is complete in Pakistan," the lawyer added.
Mr. Sheikh, who is no relation to the accused, has written articles on extradition in the past, and he said that in the last week he had returned to his research after being asked about the Pearl case.
A lawyer who has represented Mr. Omar Sheikh, Saiful Malook, who lives in Lahore, said in a telephone interview Thursday evening that his client was not guilty.
The trial will begin in seven days and must be completed in another seven days under the country's antiterrorism law, the prosecutor said.
After his trial in Pakistan, Mr. Sheikh will argue that he should not be tried for the same crime in the United States, his lawyer said, an argument that legal experts said a judge might find persuasive.
If Mr. Sheikh is extradited to the United States after a trial and conviction here, he is expected to argue that he cannot be tried again, because of the constitutional protection against double jeopardy, an issue that American officials have indicated greatly troubles them.
Mr. Sheikh was indicted by a federal grand jury in New Jersey a week ago in connection with the Pearl murder. At a news conference announcing the indictment, Attorney General John Ashcroft was asked if he was worried about the double jeopardy argument. "I can give you a short answer on that: yes," he replied.
For several months American officials from President Bush on down have expressed their desire for the Pakistani government to hand over Mr. Sheikh, who was under indictment before the Pearl kidnapping for the kidnapping of an American citizen in India in 1994. That indictment, issued by a federal grand jury in Washington last November, was unsealed last week.
The American ambassador here, Wendy J. Chamberlin, had personally asked the Pakistani leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, to surrender Mr. Sheikh to the United States, a request made by every American official who came through here, including most recently this week by Gen. Tommy R. Franks, chief of the United States Central Command, and Christina Rocca, assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs.
The United States had not formally requested Mr. Sheikh's extradition, hoping that the Pakistani government would voluntarily hand him over, which was a greater possibility when there were no formal charges.
Pakistani officials have said that General Musharraf received conflicting advice from his cabinet. The Foreign Ministry opposed handing Mr. Sheikh over, arguing that it would be a taint on Pakistan's sovereignty. Others who were against handing him over argued that it would bring more terrorist acts here in retaliation.
The Interior Ministry argued in favor of complying with the American request to demonstrate the country's commitment to the war on terrorism. The deciding voice belonged to generals in the intelligence agency, Pakistani officials said.
Mr. Sheikh is a leader of the Army of Muhammad, or Jaish-e-Muhammad, a militant group that was for many years covertly supported by Pakistani intelligence officials. Recently, as part of his switch of policy after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, General Musharraf banned the organization.
Mr. Pearl disappeared on Jan. 23 while he was pursuing an article about links between militant Islamic groups and Richard C. Reid, the so-called shoe bomber. Through Mr. Sheikh, with whom he had been communicating by e-mail, Mr. Pearl was hoping to interview a militant leader.
The American indictment charges that Mr. Sheikh "led a ring of co-conspirators who carefully and methodically set a death trap for Daniel Pearl, lured him into it with lies, and savagely ended his life," Mr. Ashcroft said last week.
If convicted, of either the kidnapping or the murder, Mr. Sheikh could be executed, the prosecutor said.
Looks like the morons, those who killed a person who wanted to spread the news about the main topic in our lives, are gonna get their just deserts.
Here is what The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/), the NYC paper my family subscribes to, sez:
March 22, 2002
Suspects in U.S. Reporter's Death Charged With Murder
By Raymond Bonner
SLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 22 — A 28-year old Muslim militant, Ahmed Omar Sheikh, was formally charged today with the kidnapping and murder of the American journalist Daniel Pearl. The move is likely to seriously complicate and possibly thwart American attempts to have Mr. Sheikh handed over to the United States for prosecution.
Pakistani officials said that a key factor in deciding — at least for now —against handing over Mr. Sheikh to the Americans was the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency, which apparently feared that Mr. Sheikh might reveal links between the agency and militant Islamic groups.
Mr. Sheikh and an accused accomplice, Sheikh Mohammed Adeel, were escorted to the court in Karachi today by two dozen armored personnel carriers mounted with machine guns. Two other suspects in custody who have also been charged with kidnapping and murder were not present. Seven other suspects who remain at large also face the same charges.
The prosecutor in the case, Raja Qureshi, said on Thursday that he was confident that Mr. Sheikh would be found guilty in a trial that he said would be over within two weeks.
"I think the circumstantial evidence, coupled with the testimony of the experts and the e-mails, will lead to a conviction," Mr. Qureshi said in a telephone interview from Karachi, where Mr. Pearl was kidnapped and the trial will be held.
Mr. Qureshi said the police had recovered documents in Mr. Sheikh's handwriting, which then became e-mail messages. The kidnappers sent those e-mail messages to news organizations and others, threatening to kill Mr. Pearl unless their demands were met. F.B.I. investigators, who have been helping in the case, found the e-mail messages on the hard drive of a computer belonging to another defendant, Mr. Qureshi said.
Legal experts said the filing of charges would make it more difficult for Pakistan to hand Mr. Sheikh over to the United States for prosecution, as the Bush administration wants.
"If no charges had been filed, a court could have readily handed him over," Akram Sheikh, former head of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said Thursday evening. Now, "he cannot be flown abroad until his trial is complete in Pakistan," the lawyer added.
Mr. Sheikh, who is no relation to the accused, has written articles on extradition in the past, and he said that in the last week he had returned to his research after being asked about the Pearl case.
A lawyer who has represented Mr. Omar Sheikh, Saiful Malook, who lives in Lahore, said in a telephone interview Thursday evening that his client was not guilty.
The trial will begin in seven days and must be completed in another seven days under the country's antiterrorism law, the prosecutor said.
After his trial in Pakistan, Mr. Sheikh will argue that he should not be tried for the same crime in the United States, his lawyer said, an argument that legal experts said a judge might find persuasive.
If Mr. Sheikh is extradited to the United States after a trial and conviction here, he is expected to argue that he cannot be tried again, because of the constitutional protection against double jeopardy, an issue that American officials have indicated greatly troubles them.
Mr. Sheikh was indicted by a federal grand jury in New Jersey a week ago in connection with the Pearl murder. At a news conference announcing the indictment, Attorney General John Ashcroft was asked if he was worried about the double jeopardy argument. "I can give you a short answer on that: yes," he replied.
For several months American officials from President Bush on down have expressed their desire for the Pakistani government to hand over Mr. Sheikh, who was under indictment before the Pearl kidnapping for the kidnapping of an American citizen in India in 1994. That indictment, issued by a federal grand jury in Washington last November, was unsealed last week.
The American ambassador here, Wendy J. Chamberlin, had personally asked the Pakistani leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, to surrender Mr. Sheikh to the United States, a request made by every American official who came through here, including most recently this week by Gen. Tommy R. Franks, chief of the United States Central Command, and Christina Rocca, assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs.
The United States had not formally requested Mr. Sheikh's extradition, hoping that the Pakistani government would voluntarily hand him over, which was a greater possibility when there were no formal charges.
Pakistani officials have said that General Musharraf received conflicting advice from his cabinet. The Foreign Ministry opposed handing Mr. Sheikh over, arguing that it would be a taint on Pakistan's sovereignty. Others who were against handing him over argued that it would bring more terrorist acts here in retaliation.
The Interior Ministry argued in favor of complying with the American request to demonstrate the country's commitment to the war on terrorism. The deciding voice belonged to generals in the intelligence agency, Pakistani officials said.
Mr. Sheikh is a leader of the Army of Muhammad, or Jaish-e-Muhammad, a militant group that was for many years covertly supported by Pakistani intelligence officials. Recently, as part of his switch of policy after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, General Musharraf banned the organization.
Mr. Pearl disappeared on Jan. 23 while he was pursuing an article about links between militant Islamic groups and Richard C. Reid, the so-called shoe bomber. Through Mr. Sheikh, with whom he had been communicating by e-mail, Mr. Pearl was hoping to interview a militant leader.
The American indictment charges that Mr. Sheikh "led a ring of co-conspirators who carefully and methodically set a death trap for Daniel Pearl, lured him into it with lies, and savagely ended his life," Mr. Ashcroft said last week.
If convicted, of either the kidnapping or the murder, Mr. Sheikh could be executed, the prosecutor said.
Looks like the morons, those who killed a person who wanted to spread the news about the main topic in our lives, are gonna get their just deserts.