Pakistan re-arrests men in Daniel Pearl murder case

Pakistani authorities ordered on Friday four men, including a British militant, convicted of the 2002 murder of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl, to be detained for three months despite a lower court’s ruling to overturn their convictions.

Soraya Ali reports.

Pakistani authorities have re-arrested four men convicted of the 2002 murder of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl, one day after a lower court ruled to overturn their convictions.

Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was investigating Islamist militants in Karachi after the 9/11 attacks when we was kidnapped in January 2002, and later beheaded.

On Thursday (April 2), the High Court in Sindh acquitted the four accused, including British militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was originally sentenced to death for masterminding Pearl's murder.

But today (April 3), the Sindh government issued the order to arrest and detain the four before they were released from prison -- to be detained for three months.

The re-arrest of the men gives the Pakistani government time to put together a legal appeal against their acquittal.