Pak SC orders release of prime suspect in Daniel Pearl murder

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the release of British-born al-Qaeda leader Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who is accused in the 2002 beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl.

The apex dismissed the Sindh government's appeal against the Sindh High Court's (SHC) decision to overturn the conviction of Sheikh for the 2002 beheading of Pearl, Dawn newspaper reported.

According to the short verdict, a three-judge SC bench headed by Justice Mushir Alam also directed to release the suspect. One member of the bench opposed the decision.

Pearl, the 38-year-old South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, was abducted and beheaded while he was in Pakistan investigating a story in 2002 on the links between the country''s powerful spy agency ISI and al-Qaeda.