Suspects in Pearl Case to Stay in Jail

A Pakistani judge gave prosecutors two more weeks Monday to build their case against three Islamic militants accused in the kidnapping and slaying of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

The judge in this southern city ordered chief suspect Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh and two alleged accomplices to remain jailed until their next court hearing.

In the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, the U.S. ambassador said she would meet with President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday to discuss Saeed’s possible extradition to the United States.

Sheikh and his co-defendants--Sheikh Adil, a constable with the police department’s special branch, and Salman Saquib--were brought to a special anti-terrorism court in two armored personnel carriers, their faces covered by white hoods. Dozens of police patrolled the corridors and grounds of the courthouse.

Once inside, the suspects were taken to a closed hearing in the judge’s chamber. A preliminary indictment had been expected Monday, but the judge postponed it.

Khawaja Naveed, the lawyer for Adil and Saquib--Sheikh is not being represented by an attorney--said all three complained to the judge that they had been pressured into signing confessions.

“The honorable court has directed the police not to use coercive measures and not to [pressure] the suspects,” Naveed told reporters.

Sheikh refused to make a confessional statement at the hearing, raising questions about a confession police said he made shortly after his arrest in which he claimed to be the ringleader in the abduction.

Pearl disappeared Jan. 23 in Karachi while working on a story about Islamic radicals in Pakistan. A videotape showing his slaying surfaced last week.