KARACHI (voa) – A prime suspect in the kidnapping of American reporter Daniel Pearl has told a Pakistani court that as far as he knows the reporter is dead.
The suspect, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh — known as Sheikh Omar — did not say when or where the Wall Street Journal reporter was allegedly killed. Mr. Pearl disappeared in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi on January 23 while working on a story on Islamic extremism.
Sheikh Omar was brought to court in Karachi Thursday, when he was formally charged with kidnapping and ordered jailed for two more weeks.
The British-born Islamic extremist admitted kidnapping Mr. Pearl, saying the action was carried out on his “own free will.”
Pakistani police arrested Shiekh Omar in the eastern city of Lahore two days ago. But he told the court he surrendered to save his family members from harassment.
Sheikh Omar was freed from an Indian jail in 1999 in exchange for the passengers of an Indian airliner hijacked to the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. He had been arrested in 1994 for kidnapping western tourists in Indian Kashmir.
