Appeals filed in Pearl murder case

Officials receive death threats

Security has been stepped up in Karachi since the verdict

HYDERABAD, Pakistan -- Lawyers for three men sentenced to life imprisonment for their role in the kidnap and murder of U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl have filed an appeal against the verdict.

British-born Islamic militant Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh, sentenced to death by the same Pakistani court on Monday, is also expected to appeal against his conviction.

Saeed Sheikh is believed to be the mastermind behind the kidnap-murder of Pearl who disappeared while researching a story in Karachi in January. He was sentenced to death by hanging by an anti-terrorism court while his three accomplices received life sentences, which in Pakistan means 25 years.

Lawyer's for the accomplices, Sheikh Adil, Fahad Naseem and Salman Saqib said on Wednesday they had filed an appeal to the Sindh High Court in Karachi.

"I hope the high court will examine the case without any pressure and ... will live up to its reputation," defense lawyer Rai Bashir told reporters.

Prosecutors have also filed an appeal, seeking the death penalty for the three accomplices.

Threat

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Meanwhile, officials involved in the conviction of Saeed Sheikh have received anonymous death threats via mail.

Pakistani police on Tuesday said the letter claimed officials would be murdered if the death sentence handed down to Saeed Sheikh was carried out, according to wire reports.

Security was immediately stepped up at the Hyderabad jail where the trial took place.

The letter threatened retaliation "in a very heavy way" if Saeed Sheikh was hanged or "manhandled" in prison. The letter was postmarked Monday but officials did not say from where it was sent.

Hyderabad's police chief Moazzam Jah Ansari told Reuters by telephone that the letter was signed off "mujahid [holy warrior] Changez Khan," but police were treating the name as a pseudonym.

"We have killed Russians, we will also kill you [as] we are mujahids," Ansari quoted the letter as saying.

"We are taking this letter seriously and have tightened the security of the judge and the jailer," he said. "We have also improved the intelligence network to know who has sent the letter."

Execution in Pakistan is carried out by hanging, but usually only after an exhaustive appeals process.

Defiant

U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl

Pearl, 38, was researching a story on Islamic fundamentalism for the Wall Street Journal when he was kidnapped in the port city of Karachi on January 23. (Timeline)

A videotape emerged clearly showing he had been killed.

Police found a body in a shallow grave outside Karachi in May but it has not been announced officially as Pearl's.

Saeed Sheikh was defiant after receiving his death sentence.

"I will see whether who wants to kill me will first kill me or get himself killed," he said, in a message read out by his lawyer, Rai Bashir.