Police escort Omar Saeed Sheikh out of a court in Karachi. File / AFP

Tariq Butt, Correspondent

Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered release of Omar Saeed Sheikh who had been acquitted by the Sindh High Court (SHC) from the charge of murdering American journalist Daniel Pearl.

The apex court thus rejected the Sindh government's appeal against the SHC judgment in a 2-1 split verdict.

A three-judge bench of the apex court led by Justice Mushir Alam announced the short order. Sheikh has been on death row since his conviction in the death of Pearl in 2002.

People exit the main entrance of the Karachi Central Prison where Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh is detained. AP

His attorney said Sheikh "should not have spent one day in jail.” Attorney Mehmood A. Sheikh, no relation, said the court also ordered the release of three other Pakistanis who had been sentenced to life in prison for their part in Pearl’s kidnapping and death.

"By a majority of two to one, they have acquitted all the accused persons and ordered their release," a provincial advocate general, Salman Talibuddin, said.

It was not immediately clear whether "acquittal" meant a finding of not guilty, or that they had merely finished their jail terms.

Sheikh has served 18 years in jail and a life sentence is usually a maximum 14 years.

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Sheikh and three co-accused are to be released if they are not required in any other cases, the head of the court panel, Justice Mushir Alam, said. The process to release them can take several days.

An SHC division bench on April 2,2020, commuted the death sentence of Sheikh to seven years and acquitted three others who were serving life terms.

The Sindh government swiftly challenged the SHC ruling. The Sindh government had also immediately detained Sheikh and three other accused under Section 3 (1) of West Pakistan Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance 1960.

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh's father Saeed Sheikh speaks with the media outside the Supreme Court building in Islamabad. AFP

The same SHC division bench, however, annulled the detention order on Dec.24 and ordered the Sindh government to immediately release the four men. This order elicited immediate response from the US which on Dec.25 expressed its "deep concerns” over the SHC order.

The Sindh government had, however, not released the accused as it contended that the Supreme Court’s Sept.28 order with regard to Daniel Pearl case accused was still in the field.

Daniel Pearl at an undisclosed location with a copy of Pakistan's English newspaper Dawn. File / AFP

Pearl, 38, was the South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal when he was abducted in Karachi in January 2002. Pearl’s wife Marianne Pearl, a US national who was living in Karachi, wrote a letter to the Artillery Maidan police on Feb.2, 2002, stating that her husband disappeared on Jan.23, 2002.

Later, a graphic video showing Pearl’s decapitation was delivered to the US consulate in Karachi nearly a month after he was kidnapped. After this, a case was filed against the suspects and 23 witnesses were produced in the case by the prosecution. Sheikh was arrested in February 2002.