 | The heat was supposed to be off by now. At some point the case will quietly be dropped for lack of evidence. |
| Witnesses are all dead, ain't they? |
The appeal case of Sheikh Omar, convicted of involvement in the killing of American reporter Daniel Pearl, began on Monday. | “I am confident that the appeal against the verdict will be accepted and the accused will be free.” |
Sheikh Omar, 32, whose full name is Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, was not released from a high-security prison to attend court proceedings. But his father was present.
Defence lawyers opened their argument by telling the panel of two judges that the verdict was unfair because they had not been able to interview Pearl’s widow Mariane. “I am confident that the appeal against the verdict will be accepted and the accused will be free,” defence counsel Khwaja Sultan said after the proceedings were adjourned until Tuesday. Lawyers said they expected to the hearing to take about a week. |