US slams Pakistan as court overturns death sentence of terrorist in Daniel Pearl's murder

US on Friday criticised a Pakistani court for overturning death sentence of British-born top al-Qaeda leer Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was convicted in abduction and murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl in Karachi in 2002 in aftermath of 9/11 terror attack, terming verdict an "affront" to victims of terrorism everywhere.

US' response comes after Sindh High Court on Thursday found 46-year-old Sheikh guilty of lesser charge of kidnapping and commuted his death sentence to seven years in prison. Sheikh has been in jail for past 18 years. A two-judge bench heed by Justice Mohamm Karim Khan Agha also acquitted three ors - Fah Naseem, Salman Saqib and Sheikh il- serving life sentences in case. " overturning of convictions for Daniel Pearl's murder is an affront to victims of terrorism everywhere," Alice Wells, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, said in a tweet.

RE: Pakistan court overturns UK-born terrorist Omar Sheikh's death sentence

But US' top diplomat for South Asia welcomed Pakistani prosecutors' indications that y would appeal decision. "We welcome Pakistan's decision to appeal verdict. Those responsible for Daniel's heius kidnapping and murder must face full measure of justice," Wells said.

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Daniel Pearl murder case

Pearl, 38-year-old South Asia bureau chief for Wall Street Journal, was abducted and beheed while he was in Pakistan investigating a story on alleged links between country''s powerful spy ncy ISI and al-Qaeda. Sheikh, who was mastermind behind abduction and killing of Pearl, was arrested from Lahore in February 2002 and sentenced to death five months later by an anti-terrorism court. incident h come three years after Sheikh, along with Jaish-e-Mohamm chief Masood Azhar and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, was released by India in 1999 and given safe pass to Afghanistan in exchange for nearly 150 passengers of hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814. He was serving prison term in India for kidnappings of Western tourists in country.

"Justice has been done to my clients," said one of Sheikh's lawyers Khawaja Naveed. case h strained relations between Pakistan and US when terrorism was at its height in Pakistan after 9/11 attacks on twin towers of World Tre Centre.

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Pakistan on FATF list

verdict on Thursday came more than a month after Paris-based Financial Action Task Force warned Pakistan that stern action will be taken against it if country fails to check flow of money to terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) among ors.

FATF, which supervises effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing, last year placed Pakistan on its "Grey List" of countries for failure to curb funnelling of funds to terror groups like LeT and JeM.If t removed from list by April end, Pakistan may move to a blacklist of countries such as Iran that face severe ecomic sanctions.

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