Pakistan Relocates Man On Death Row For Pearl Killing

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Pakistan relocates man on death row for Pearl killing

http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne...03-158905.html

Mon, Aug 03, 2009

KARACHI, PAKISTAN - Pakistani authorities have moved a British-born extremist sentenced to death for the kidnap and killing of US journalist Daniel Pearl to a new prison for security reasons, officials said Monday.

Ahmed Saeed Sheikh, also known as Sheikh Omar, was moved under tight security to the financial capital Karachi from jail in Hyderabad, a city 172 kilometres further east.

Police blamed Pearl's 2002 kidnapping and beheading in the southern city of Karachi on a group of Islamic militants headed by Omar.

He was arrested with three others and convicted in June 2002 of Pearl's murder by an anti-terror court. Seven co-accused were punished in absentia and two of them were later killed in encounters with police.

Court documents said they masterminded Pearl's kidnapping in an attempt to win freedom for Al-Qaeda men locked in Guantanamo Bay.

Omar and three other suspects jailed for life have lodged appeals that have been pending in the southern province of Sindh for seven years.

"He has been shifted to a Karachi jail for security reasons," said Alauddin Abbasi, deputy inspector general of prisons in Sindh.

"The situation in Hyderabad jail has deteriorated, thus we decided to move him to Karachi," Abbasi told AFP, referring to a recent revolt by prisoners in which they took 24 jail wardens hostage.

A senior prison official in Karachi, Mumtaz Burney, confirmed that Sheikh had been moved to the southern port city's central prison.

It is second time in three years that Sheikh has been moved to Karachi from Hyderabad.

In 2006, he was shifted to protect him from two or three dangerous prisoners in Hyderabad jail on the recommendation of security agencies.

Pearl, 38, was the South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal when he was abducted in Karachi on January 23, 2002 while researching a story about Islamist militants.

A graphic video showing his decapitation was delivered to the US consulate in the city nearly a month later.

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Pakistan shifts Pearl murder convict to Karachi

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldN...41500820090803

8/3/2009

HYDERABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - A British-born Islamist militant sentenced to death for the killing of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl has been moved to a prison in Karachi due to concerns over his security, officials said on Monday.

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, or Sheikh Omar, was sentenced to death in 2002 for his role in the killing of Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped in Karachi in January 2002 while researching a story on Islamist militants. Pearl was later found beheaded.

Sheikh Omar, once an undergraduate student at the London School of Economics, was being kept at the central prison in Hyderabad, a city 160 km (100 miles) north of the southern city of Karachi, before being moved on Sunday.

"He has been transferred to Karachi due to some security concerns," Allaudin Abbasi, the deputy inspector general of prisons in Hyderabad, told Reuters.

He did not elaborate. But other officials said the security situation at the Hyderabad prison had deteriorated recently, and that prisoners took 24 jail wardens hostage last month.

The worsening security situation had already forced authorities to move Salman Saqib, who was sentenced to life in the Pearl case, to another prison in Hyderabad after a scuffle with other inmates, they said.

Sheikh Omar, Saqib and two other co-accused facing life sentences have appealed to the Sindh High Court against their conviction.

The government itself has appealed to the same court, asking for tougher sentences for Saqib and the other two co-accused.

But court hearings have been repeatedly postponed, mostly because of the absence of lawyers representing the convicts.

Under Pakistani law, a convict has the right to appeal in superior courts but no case can be heard if one of the lawyers of the convict is absent.

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Omer Sheikh shifted from Karachi prison for security reasons

http://news.in.msn.com/international...mentid=5217511

From From Rezaul H Laskar
6/18/2011

Islamabad, Jun 18 (PTI) Terror mastermind Ahmed Omer Saeed Sheikh, one of four militants convicted for the kidnapping and murder of journalist Daniel Pearl, has been transferred from a jail in Karachi to Hyderabad central prison for security reasons.

Ghulam Qadir Thebo, the Inspector General of prisons in Sindh province, said another convict in the case, Sheikh Adil, is being shifted from Hyderabad to a Karachi prison under the directives of the Sindh High Court.

Sheikh is a British national of Pakistani heritage who was freed by India with two other terrorists in exchange for passengers of an Indian Airlines flight hijacked to Kandahar in 1999.

He was shifted to Karachi from Hyderabad prison after he used a cell phone that was recovered by jail authorities.

For security reasons, the prison administration does not want to keep all convicts in Daniel Pearl case at one place, Thebo told the Dawn newspaper. "So we are shifting them for security reasons."

Sheikh was sent to Karachi after conditions in the Hyderabad prison went out of control of the former administration, he said.

"Now Hyderabad central prison is much better, therefore, we have shifted him there," he said.

Sheikh Adil is being sent to Karachi in line with the High Court''s directive.

"We can''t keep all the convicts at one place even otherwise from security point of view. So we have to segregate them as well and since we are satisfied with Hyderabad jail''s present conditions, we decided to send Sheikh back to the same jail where he was earlier lodged and faced trial," Thebo said.

Ashiq Memon, another senior prison official, said "sufficient security" had been put in place at the Hyderabad jail and the situation there was "totally under control as far as previous disturbances in the jail are concerned".

Sheikh was awarded capital punishment in the Daniel Pearl case in July 2002 by an anti-terrorism court.

The co-accused Fahad Naseem, Sheikh Adil and Salman Saqib were sentenced to life imprisonment. Their appeals against the sentences are pending in the High Court.

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Omer Sheikh shifted to Hyderabad prison

http://www.dawn.com/2011/06/18/omer-...ad-prison.html

By Mohammad Hussain Khan
6/18/2011

HYDERABAD, June 17: Ahmed Omer Saeed Sheikh – one of the four convicts in US journalist Daniel Pearl kidnapping and murder case – has been brought back to Hyderabad central prison for security reasons.

IG prisons Sindh Ghulam Qadir Thebo also confirmed that another convict of the case, Sheikh Adil, is being shifted to Karachi prison under directive of the Sindh High Court.

Sheikh was shifted to Karachi from Hyderabad prison after he used a cell phone in his security cell which was recovered by prison authorities. Thebo said that for security measures the prison administration doesn’t want to keep all convicts of this case at one place. “So we are shifting them for security reasons”, he said.

Sheikh, he said, was brought to Karachi after conditions in the central prison went out of control of the former administration.

“Now Hyderabad central prison is much better, therefore, we have shifted him there”, he said.

He added that Sheikh Adil is being brought to Karachi in line with high court’s directive.

“We can’t keep all the convicts at one place even otherwise from security point of view.

“So we have to segregate them as well and since we are satisfied with Hyderabad jail’s present conditions we decided to send Sheikh back to the same jail where he was earlier lodged and faced trial”, said the IG prisons.

Jail Superintendent Pir Shabbir Jan Sarhandi – who initially avoided to confirm his shifting in response to a query – later confirmed Sheikh’s shifting to central prison. “Yes you are right he has been shifted to our jail”, he said.

“We have ensured sufficient security and currently situation is totally under control as far as previous disturbances in jail are concerned”, Dr. Ashiq Memon, AIG prisons said.

He said that superintendent jail is quite capable and he must have taken all security measures to ensure the convict’s surveillance.

Shaikh was awarded capital punishment in Daniel Pearl case on July 15, 2002 by an Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) judge. His co-accused Fahad Naseem, Sheikh Adil and Salman Saqib, are sentenced to life imprisonment in the same case.

The trial was held in the Hyderabad prison for which the accused were shifted to Hyderabad from Karachi in May 2002. Their appeals against sentences are pending in the high court.

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15 prison staff taken hostage in Pak jail

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/...n-hostage.html

Islamabad, Jul 13, 2012, (PTI): One prisoner was killed and 15 prison staff were taken hostage during a protest today by inmates of the Hyderabad Central Jail in southern Pakistan, where high-profile terrorists are being held.

Prisoners, reportedly protesting against the lack of amenities at the jail, broke out of their barracks and took 15 staff including the assistant jailer hostage, Deputy Inspector General (Prisons) Gulzar Channa told the media.

One prisoner was killed and several others were injured in action by police to control the protests.

Prison guards used teargas and fired in the air to disperse protesters who tried to break down a wall and a gate.

Several policemen were also injured, officials said. Channa acknowledged that 1,000 of the 1,800 prisoners in the jail were terrorists or hardened criminals.

He said some of the most dangerous prisoners of Sindh province were being held at the jail.

Terror mastermind Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, arrested for the abduction and murder of American reporter Daniel Pearl, is among the prisoners at Hyderabad Central Jail.

Additional troops from the Pakistan Rangers and Frontier Corps were called in to control the situation.

Footage on television showed the prisoners vandalising property within the jail and standing in large numbers on the roofs of structures within the walled prison complex.

Channa said he had not received any complaints from the prisoners during his last visit to the jail.

The prisoners had been demanding facilities such as provision of mobile phones, which could not be made available to them, he said.

In March last year, seven prisoners were killed and over 20 injured in a clash between police and prisoners at the Hyderabad Central Jail.