Man accused of killing U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl to stay in prison

A Pakistani provincial government Friday ordered a British Pakistani man to remain in custody for three months after his conviction in the kidnapping and killing of a U.S. journalist was overturned.

The superintendent of Karachi’s Central Prison, Hasan Sehtoo, said he received an order from the Sindh provincial government saying Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh’s release would threaten public safety. The government ordered him detained as it appeals to the Pakistan Supreme Court to have his murder conviction reinstated.

Saeed was found guilty of murder and kidnapping in the 2002 death of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and sentenced to death. On Thursday, the Sindh High Court overturned his murder conviction and sentenced him to seven years for the kidnapping.

Pearl disappeared Jan. 23, 2002, in Karachi while researching links between Pakistani militants and Richard C. Reid, who became known as the “shoe bomber” after he was arrested on a flight from Paris to Miami with explosives in his shoes. Prosecutors said Saeed lured Pearl into a trap by promising to arrange an interview with an Islamic cleric who police believed was not involved in the conspiracy.