Observer Report Islamabad
While turning down the federation’ plea seeking cancellation of release orders for four accused persons for abducting and beheading South Asia bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal Daniel Pearl, the top court on Monday extended the custody of accused just for one day. The Supreme Court made it clear that the Sindh government will not prolong preventive detention of all the four persons in the case.
Earlier on January 28, a three-member bench, led by Justice Mushir Alam and comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Yahya Afridi had upheld the SHC verdict and acquitted all the accused involved in the murder case of Pearl, ordering the release of the four men including Ahmed Omer Sheikh, Fahad Naseem, Salman Saqib and Sheikh Adil, languishing in jails for the past 18 years.
The SC bench pronounced the order after hearing lengthy arguments from both sides and observed that the provincial authorities remained unable to produce justified reasons for the continuous detention of the petitioners who had moved the top court against their continuous detention since their release order in April 2 last year.
