Observer Report
Islamabad
Parents of slain American journalist Daniel Pearl have approached the Supreme Court against the Sindh High Court’s verdict acquitting and releasing the prime accused in their son’s murder case.
Two criminal petitions have been filed by lawyer Faisal Siddiqi on behalf of the parents—Ruth Pearl and Judie Pearl—against the acquittal and release of the four accused.
“The decision by the Sindh High Court to free the men in the murder of Daniel Pearl is a complete miscarriage of justice. It is a defining case for the Pakistani state and its judicial system, involving freedom of the press, the sanctity of every life, freedom from terror and the manifestation of a welcoming and safe Pakistan to the world. Rarely has any court case embodied and risked such fundamental values,” the lawyer said.
The petition states that the SHC has failed to note that this was a brutal murder as a result of international terrorism and the principle of the standard of proof, as well as the benefit of doubt in cases of international terrorism, has to be applied keeping in the context that the nature and type of evidence available in such terrorism cases cannot be equated with cases involving non-terrorism crimes.
“Therefore, it is obvious and apparent that the impugned judgment is clearly erroneous because it is fundamentally based on a misinterpretation of law and misreading of the entire record of Special Case No.26 of 2002,” stated the petition and added that the impugned judgment is liable to be set aside.
