WASHINGTON, 30 January 2021, (TON): In an unprecedented act, authorities in Pakistan on Friday, 29 January 2021, filed review petition before the Supreme Court to review its decision to free Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and his three accomplices convicted of kidnapping and beheading the American journalist Daniel Pearl.

Earlier,  Denial Pearl’s family’s lawyer, Faisal Siddiqi said in a statement about acquittal by Supreme Court of Pakistan, “Thursday’s decision is a complete travesty of justice and the release of these killers puts in danger journalists everywhere and the people of Pakistan… We urge the US government to take all necessary actions under the law to correct this injustice.”

Meanwhile, White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday underlining new Biden administration’s commitment to secure justice for Pearl’s family issued a statement asking Pakistan to expeditiously review its legal options, including allowing the US to prosecute Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and other suspects to secure justice for the American journalist’s family.

Voicing outrage over the acquittal of those involved in the brutal murder of Daniel Pearl in 2002, the White House has asked Pakistan to expeditiously review its legal options, including allowing the US to prosecute al-Qaeda terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and other suspects to secure justice for the American journalist’s family. Jen Psaki said, “This decision to exonerate and release Sheikh and the other suspects is an affront to terrorism victims everywhere, including in Pakistan… Pakistani government to expeditiously review its legal options including allowing the United States to prosecute Sheikh for the brutal murder of an American citizen and journalist."

Denial Pearl, the 38-year-old South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, was killed in 2002. He was kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan and beheaded days later.

The three-judge Supreme Court panel ruled 2-to-1 in favor of upholding Sheikh’s acquittal and cleared Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and his three accomplices of all charges in the pending case, ordering that Ahmed Omar Saeed and others be immediately released from jail.