Daniel Pearl (October 10, 1963 – February 1, 2002) was an American journalist who worked for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

.'' On January 23, 2002, he was kidnapped by

jihadist Jihadism is a neologism for modern, armed militant Political aspects of Islam, Islamic movements that seek to Islamic state, establish states based on Islamic principles. In a narrower sense, it refers to the belief that armed confrontation ...

militants while he was on his way to what he had expected would be an interview with Pakistani Islamic scholar Mubarak Ali Gilani in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, Sindh. Pearl had moved to

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

, India, upon taking up a regional posting by his newspaper and later entered

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

to cover the war on terror, which was launched by the United States in response to the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

in 2001. At the time of his abduction, he had been investigating the alleged links between British citizen Richard Reid (or the " Shoe Bomber") and

al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

; Reid had reportedly completed his training at a facility owned by Gilani, who had been accused by the United States of being affiliated with the Pakistani terrorist organization Jamaat ul-Fuqra. A few days after his disappearance, Pearl's captors released a video in which he is recorded condemning American foreign policy and repeatedly telling the camera that he and his family are

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and have visited

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, following which his throat is slit and his head severed from his body. Before killing Pearl, the captors had issued an ultimatum to the

United States government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...

, namely including the demands that all Pakistani terrorists be freed from American prisons and that the United States move forward with a halted shipment of F-16s for the Pakistani government. Gilani refuted allegations of involvement with Jamaat ul-Fuqra and Pearl's killing. Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a British citizen of Pakistani origin, was arrested by Pakistani authorities and sentenced to death in July 2002 for the execution, but his conviction was overturned by a Pakistani court in 2020. Sheikh had previously been arrested by Indian authorities for his involvement in the 1994 kidnappings of Western tourists in India, and is also an affiliate of Jaish-e-Mohammed and al-Qaeda, among other armed jihadist organizations.

Early life and education

Pearl was born in

Princeton, New Jersey The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...

, on October 10, 1963, to

Judea Judea or Judaea (; ; , ; ) is a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name's usage is historic, having been used in antiquity and still into the pres ...

and Ruth Pearl (née Rejwan). His father is an Israeli-American of Polish Jewish descent, and his mother was an Iraqi Jew whose family was saved from the Farhud by Muslim neighbors. His family moved to Encino, a neighborhood of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, when his father took a position with the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

and

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

and later director of the Cognitive Systems Laboratory. In 2011,

Judea Pearl Judea Pearl (; born September 4, 1936) is an Israeli-American computer scientist and philosopher, best known for championing the probabilistic approach to artificial intelligence and the development of Bayesian networks (see the article on belie ...

received the

Turing Award The ACM A. M. Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for contributions of lasting and major technical importance to computer science. It is generally recognized as the highest distinction in the fi ...

, the 'Nobel Prize for Computer Science'. The history of the family and its connections to Israel are described by Judea Pearl in the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' article, "Roots in the Holy Land". Pearl attended Portola Junior High School and Birmingham High School. He then attended

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

from 1981 to 1985, where he was a

Communication Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

major with

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

honors, a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, a co-founder of a student newspaper called the ''Stanford Commentator'', as well as a reporter for the campus radio station KZSU. Pearl graduated from Stanford with a B.A. in Communication, after which he spent a summer as a Pulliam Fellow intern at ''

The Indianapolis Star } ''The Indianapolis Star'' (also known as ''IndyStar'') is a morning daily newspaper that began publishing on June 6, 1903, in Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It has been the only major daily paper in the city since 1999, whe ...

.''

Journalism career

Following a trip to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and Europe, Pearl started his professional journalism career at the ''

North Adams Transcript The ''North Adams Transcript'', prior to being merged into '' The Berkshire Eagle'' in 2014, was an American daily newspaper published Mondays through Saturdays in North Adams, Massachusetts. It was one of four Massachusetts newspapers owned by ...

'' and '' The Berkshire Eagle'' in western

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. From there he moved to the '' San Francisco Business Times''. In 1990, Pearl moved to the Atlanta bureau of ''The Wall Street Journal'' and moved again in 1993 to its

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, bureau to cover

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

. In 1996, he was assigned to the London bureau and in 1999 to Paris. His articles covered a range of topics, such as the October 1994 story of a

Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the string instruments, such as violins, violas, cellos, and guitars, crafted by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), in Cremona, Italy, during the late 17th ...

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

allegedly found on a highway on-ramp and a June 2000 story about Iranian pop music. He became more involved in international affairs: his most notable investigations covered the ethnic wars in the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

, where he discovered that charges of an alleged

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

committed in

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

were unsubstantiated. He also explored the American missile attack on a supposed military facility in

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people, Greater Khartoum is the largest urban area in Sudan. Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile – flo ...

, which he proved to have been a pharmaceutical factory.

Marriage and family

In 1999 in Paris, Pearl met and married French journalist Mariane van Neyenhoff, a former reporter and columnist for '' Glamour''. Their son, Adam Daniel Pearl, was born in Paris on May 28, 2002, approximately four months after Pearl's abduction and death.

South Asia and murder

The Pearls settled in

, India, after Daniel Pearl was made Southeast Asia bureau chief of ''The Wall Street Journal''. They travelled to

Karachi, Pakistan Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, which he used as a base for reporting on the United States' War on Terrorism following the 9/11 attacks by Al-Qaeda terrorists in 2001 in the United States.

Abduction

On January 23, 2002, on his way to what he thought was an interview with Islamic scholar Mubarak Ali Gilani at the Village Restaurant in downtown

about terrorist Richard Reid's alleged training at one of Gilani's camps in Pakistan, Pearl was kidnapped near the Metropole Hotel at 7:00 p.m. by several Islamist jihadist groups working in collaboration. Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a member of the Harkat ul-Ansar/ Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and later Jaish-e-Mohammed, has admitted to planning and committing the kidnapping but denied being involved in Pearl's murder. The beheading video of Pearl was released by Jaish-e-Mohammed, under the pseudonym of "National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty" (also used in ransom emails) and Jaish member Amjad Farooqi was reportedly involved in the kidnapping and murder. In a January 2011 report prepared by the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) and the

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Inc. (ICIJ), is an independent global network of 280 investigative journalists and over 140 media organizations spanning more than 100 countries. It is based in Washington, D.C., with ...

(ICIJ), members of other Pakistani terrorist groups such as Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan were also stated to be involved in Pearl's kidnapping and murder. The lead author of the report was Pearl's friend and colleague in Pakistan, journalist Asra Nomani. All of the aforementioned groups were operating under the Lashkar-e-Omar umbrella.

Al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

leaders were also involved in the kidnapping and murder of Pearl, with Saif al-Adel playing a role in organizing the kidnapping and

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (sometimes also spelled Shaykh; also known by at least 50 pseudonyms; born 14 April 1965), often known by his initials KSM, is a terrorist, and the former head of propaganda for the pan-Islamist militant group al-Qaeda. He ...

was personally identified in investigative reports as the one who killed Pearl. Pearl was detained and later killed at an Al-Qaeda safe house in Karachi owned by Pakistani businessman Saud Memon. Matiur Rehman, another al-Qaeda leader has been identified as being involved in the kidnapping. The militants claimed Pearl was a spy and—using a

Hotmail Outlook.com, formerly Hotmail, is a free personal email service offered by Microsoft. It also provides a webmail interface accessible via web browser or mobile apps featuring mail, Calendaring software, calendaring, Address book, contacts, and ...

e-mail address—sent the United States a range of demands, including the freeing of all Pakistani terror detainees, and the release of a halted U.S. shipment of

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it e ...

fighter jets to the Pakistani government. The message read:

We give you one more day if America will not meet our demands we will kill Daniel. Then this cycle will continue and no American journalist could enter Pakistan.

Photos of Pearl handcuffed with a gun at his head and holding up a newspaper were attached. The group did not respond to public pleas for release of the journalist by his editor and his wife Mariane. United States intelligence forces tried to track down the kidnappers.

Death

Nine days later, the terrorists beheaded Pearl. On May 16, his severed head and decomposed body were found cut into ten pieces, and buried, along with an identifying jacket, in a shallow grave at Gadap, about north of Karachi. When the police found Pearl's remains three months after his murder,

Abdul Sattar Edhi Abdul Sattar Edhi (; 28 February 1928 – 8 July 2016) was a Pakistani Humanitarianism, humanitarian, Philanthropy, philanthropist and Asceticism, ascetic who founded the Edhi Foundation, which runs the world's largest ambulance network, along ...

, a Pakistani philanthropist, collected all of the body parts and took them to the morgue. He helped ensure that Pearl's remains were returned to the United States, where he was later interred in the Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Video of his murder

On February 21, 2002, a video was released titled ''The Slaughter of the Spy-Journalist, the Jew Daniel Pearl''. The video shows Pearl's mutilated body, and lasts 3 minutes and 36 seconds. During the video, Pearl said:

My name is Daniel Pearl. I'm a Jewish-American from Encino, California, USA. I come from, uh, on my father's side the family is Zionist. My father's Jewish, my mother's Jewish, I'm Jewish. My family follows Judaism. We've made numerous family visits to Israel.

Pearl condemned American foreign policy in the video. His family stated that he did so under duress, describing him as "a proud American, and he abhorred extremist ideologies". They also said that he gave signals that indicated that he did not agree with what he was saying. Following these statements, Pearl's throat was slit, and his head was severed. The video was released under the name of the "National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty", a pseudonym of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, with the captors repeating their earlier emailed demands for the release of all Muslim prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, the repatriation of all Pakistani nationals detained by the US, the end of US presence in Pakistan, and the delivery of undelivered

fighter planes paid for by Pakistan in the 1980s. It concluded by vowing similar attacks on Americans in Pakistan in the future. They warned that, if their demands were not met, they would repeat such a beheading "again and again".

Murder investigation

Arrests

Three suspects were arrested by February 6, 2002 after the

IP address An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is assigned to a device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. IP addresses serve two main functions: network interface i ...

of those who sent the

ransom Ransom refers to the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release. It also refers to the sum of money paid by the other party to secure a captive's freedom. When ransom means "payment", the word ...

e-mail was traced by police in Karachi. The arrests were carried out after investigation by Pakistani detective Mir Zubair Mahmood, assisted by an

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

computer expert. The man responsible for the planning and execution of the kidnapping, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, surrendered to a former ISI officer, Brig. Ijaz Shah, who concealed Sheikh's whereabouts from the Karachi police for a week. Sheikh had been in an

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n prison in connection with 1994 kidnappings of Western tourists in India. In December 1999, Sheikh was released by the Indian government in exchange for the safe release of passengers aboard hijacked

Indian Airlines Flight 814 Indian Airlines Flight 814, commonly known as IC 814, was an Indian Airlines Airbus A300 that was Aircraft hijacking, hijacked on 24 December 1999 by five members of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. The passenger flight, en route from Tribhuvan Internat ...

. On March 21, 2002, in

, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three other suspects were charged with murder for their part in the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl. They were convicted on July 15, 2002, and Sheikh was sentenced to death. Sheikh appealed the sentence. On April 2, 2020, Sheikh's murder conviction was overturned by a Pakistani court, and his death sentence was reduced to seven years' time for his kidnapping conviction, previously served. In his book, '' In the Line of Fire'', former Pakistani President

Pervez Musharraf Pervez Musharraf (11 August 1943 – 5 February 2023) was a Pakistani general and politician who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. Prior to his career in politics, he was a four-star general and appointed as ...

stated that Sheikh may have been an agent of

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

, and at some point may have become a

double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...

. On March 10, 2007,

claimed responsibility for personally killing Pearl by beheading. He is an alleged

operative reported to be third in command under

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...

, mastermind of the

. In a confession read during his tribunal hearing, Mohammed said, "I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew Daniel Pearl in the city of Karachi, Pakistan." This confession repeated word for word leaked in 2002 from his interrogation at a CIA black site interrogation center. On March 19, 2007, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh's lawyers cited Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's confession as part of an appeal in defense of their client.Unkovic, Alexis
"Militant convicted of Pearl killing to rely on KSM Guantanamo confession on appeal"
, '' The Jurist''. March 3, 2007. Access date: March 20, 2007 They said they had always acknowledged that their client played a role in Pearl's murder, but they had argued that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the actual murderer. They plan to feature Mohammed's confession as central in their appeal of their client's

death sentence Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

. According to an investigative report published in January 2011 by

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

, the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

used vein matching to determine that the perpetrator in the video of the killing of Pearl was most likely Mohammed, identifying him through a "bulging vein" running across his hand that was visible in the video. Federal officials had been concerned that Mohammed's confession obtained through

waterboarding Waterboarding is a form of torture in which water is poured over a cloth covering the face and breathing passages of an immobilized captive, causing the person to experience the sensation of drowning. In the most common method of waterboard ...

would not hold up in court. They intended to use this forensic evidence to bolster their case that he had murdered Pearl. A Pakistani official announced on March 19, 2013, that another suspect was captured in connection with Pearl's murder and was in police custody. Pakistan's Inter Services Public Relations Directorate confirmed the arrest by a paramilitary unit known as the

Pakistan Rangers The Pakistan Rangers () are a pair of paramilitary federal law enforcement corps' in Pakistan. The two corps are the Punjab Rangers (operating in Punjab province with headquarters in Lahore) and the Sindh Rangers (operating in Sindh province w ...

. On April 24, 2019, Pakistan arrested the last suspect involved in the murder, named Azam Jan. Azam Jan had eluded the authorities for two decades and was responsible for several terrorist attacks inside Pakistan.

Court proceedings

On April 2, 2020, The High Court of Pakistan's Southern Province of Sindh vacated the 2007 murder conviction of Omar Said Sheikh and his three co-conspirators (i.e., Fahad Nasim Ahmed, Syed Salman Saqib and Sheikh Mohammad Adil). The High Court reduced their sentences to a 7-year prison term for kidnapping, counting their prison detainment as time served. At the time, Omar Said Sheikh had been awaiting the death penalty and his co-conspirators were serving life sentences. On April 3, 2020, Pakistani government authorities ordered the detention of the four men (despite the Sindh High Court's ruling for their release the prior day), and stated that they would challenge the vacated case and hold the men on a measure that allows the government to detain terrorism suspects for up to three months with repeated extensions allowed. On May 2, 2020, the parents of Daniel Pearl filed an appeal to the Pakistani Supreme Court to reverse the April 2 decision of the Sindh High Court which had overturned the convictions of the four men in Pearl's case. They hired Pakistani attorney Faisal Siddiqi to represent them. In making their appeal, Daniel's father, Judea Pearl, said "We are standing up for justice not only for our son, but for all our dear friends in Pakistan so they can live in a society free of violence and terror and raise their children in peace and harmony." On July 1, 2020, Pakistan's Supreme Court refused to overturn the lower court's ruling vacating the sentence of Omar Said Sheikh for the kidnapping and murder of Pearl, and as a result, Sheikh would be freed from prison. On September 28, 2020, Pakistan's Supreme Court accepted the appeal by the family of Daniel Pearl seeking to keep Omar Said Sheikh on death row as punishment for beheading their son, and to uphold the life sentences of the three co-conspirators. On December 24, 2020, a Pakistani court ordered the release of Omar Said Sheikh and his three accomplices, again arguing that they were due for release given time served, and that their continued detention was illegal. On December 29, 2020, United States Acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen released a strongly worded statement affirming that if Omar Said Sheikh and his co-conspirators were not held accountable in Pakistan, "The United States stands ready to take custody of Omar Sheikh to stand trial here. We cannot allow him to evade justice for his role in Daniel Pearl's abduction and murder." Former New Jersey Governor

Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician and former United States Attorney, federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party (United States) ...

confirmed that a federal grand jury in New Jersey indicted Omar Said Sheikh and his co-conspirators for the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl on March 14, 2002, during Christie's tenure as U.S. Attorney for the state of New Jersey. On January 28, 2021, Pakistan's Supreme Court dismissed an appeal against the vacated sentence of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh aka Omar Said Sheikh in connection with the kidnapping and murder of journalist Daniel Pearl. The court also ordered that the three Pakistanis co-conspirators, who were sentenced to life in prison for their part in Pearl's kidnapping and murder by beheading, should be freed. In a statement, Pearl's family called the decision "illegal and unfair" and said they would appeal. At her daily briefing, White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki expressed outrage at the verdict and asked Pakistan to review all of its legal options, including possible extradition to the United States. The US Secretary of State,

Antony Blinken Antony John Blinken (born April 16, 1962) is an American lawyer and diplomat who served as the 71st United States secretary of state from 2021 to 2025. He previously served as Deputy National Security Advisor, deputy national security advisor ...

issued a statement declaring that the "US is committed to securing justice for Daniel Pearl's family and holding terrorists accountable." Two days later, the Pakistani government decided to formally join the Sindh High Court's review petition against the Supreme Court judgment on the acquittal of all accused persons involved in the abduction and murder of Daniel Pearl. The Pakistani government filed a move application for the constitution of a larger bench to hear the review petition. On February 2, 2021, Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered Omar Said Sheikh (the alleged mastermind of Pearl's abduction and beheading) to be taken off death row after 18 years and moved to a so-called government safe house. Omar Said Sheikh is under guard and not allowed to leave said facility. However, Sheikh is permitted visits from his wife and children. On March 8, 2021, authorities in Karachi sent Omar Saeed Sheikh (whose sentence was reduced to time served of 7 years for murdering American journalist Daniel Pearl) to a rest house within the premises of Kot Lakhpat Jail. He is expected to remain there while the rest of the appeal process plays out in the

Supreme Court of Pakistan The Supreme Court of Pakistan (; ''Adālat-e-Uzma Pākistān'') is the apex court in the Judiciary of Pakistan, judicial hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Established in accordance witPart VIIof the Constitution of Pakistan, it h ...

Reported death of conspirator in Pearl's murder

On 7-8 May 2025, during the 2025 India–Pakistan military strikes, it was reported that Abdul Rauf Azhar, a Jaish-e-Mohammed commander and co-conspirator of Pearl's murder, was killed in an Indian missile strike in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. The strikes occurred in retaliation for the Pahalgam terrorist attack, which occurred on 22 April 2025.

Legacy

A collection of Pearl's writings (''At Home in the World'') was published posthumously in 2002. ''The Wall Street Journal'' noted that these demonstrated his "extraordinary skill as a writer" and his "eye for quirky stories—many of which appeared in ''The Wall Street Journal'' "middle column". The Daniel Pearl Foundation was formed by Pearl's parents Ruth and Judea Pearl; other family and friends have joined to continue Pearl's mission. They intend to carry out the work in the spirit, style, and principles that shaped Pearl's work and character. Daniel Pearl World Music Days has been held worldwide since 2002, and has promoted over 1,500 concerts in over 60 countries. Pearl's widow, Mariane Pearl, wrote the memoir '' A Mighty Heart'', which tells the full story of Pearl's life.Pearl, Mariane, and Sarah Crichton
''A Mighty Heart''
New York: Scribner, 2003. . Access date: March 20, 2007. The book was adapted into a

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

starring Dan Futterman as Daniel Pearl,

Angelina Jolie Angelina Jolie ( ; born Angelina Jolie Voight, , June 4, 1975) is an American actress, filmmaker, and humanitarian. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Angelina Jolie, numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards ...

as Mariane Pearl, Irfan Khan, Adnan Siddiqui, Archie Panjabi, and

Will Patton William Rankin Patton (born June 14, 1954) is an American actor. He starred as Colonel Dan Weaver in the TNT science fiction series '' Falling Skies''.with appearances by

Alyy Khan Alyy Khan (born 6 December 1968) is a British-Pakistani actor and host who has worked in Hollywood, Bollywood, and Lollywood films and television series. He is known for his roles in the films '' A Mighty Heart'' (2007), ''Traitor'' (2008), ...

and Zafar Karachiwala On September 1, 2003, a book titled ''Who Killed Daniel Pearl?'' was published, written by Bernard-Henri Lévy. The book, which Lévy characterized as an "investigative novel", was highly controversial because of its speculative conclusions about the killing, for its broad characterizations of Pakistan, and for the author's decision to engage in a fictionalization of Pearl's thoughts during the final moments of his life. Lévy was widely criticized for the book. There were plans for a film adaptation of the book, to be directed by Tod Williams and star Josh Lucas, focusing on the last few days of Daniel Pearl's life. These plans did not come to fruition, however,

HBO Films HBO Films (formerly called HBO Premiere Films and HBO Pictures) is an American production and distribution company, a division of the cable television network HBO that produces feature films and miniseries. The division produces fiction and non-f ...

produced a 79-minute documentary titled ''The Journalist and the Jihadi: The Murder of Daniel Pearl''. It premiered on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

on October 10, 2006. The documentary chronicles Pearl's life and death, and features extensive interviews with his immediate family. It is narrated by

Christiane Amanpour Christiane Maria Heideh AmanpourStated on ''Finding Your Roots'', 22 January 2019 (; ; born 12 January 1958) is a British-Iranian journalist and television host. Amanpour is the Chief International Anchor for CNN and host of CNN International, ...

, and was nominated for two

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

. Pearl's parents edited and published a collection of responses sent to them from around the globe, entitled ''I Am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl''.Pearl, Ruth & Judea, eds. At one point in the video, Daniel Pearl said: "My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish", after which Pearl added a seemingly obscure detail, that a street in the Israeli city of

Bnei Brak Bnei Brak ( ) or Bene Beraq, is a city located on the central Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean Israeli coastal plain, coastal plain in Israel, just east of Tel Aviv. A center of Haredi Judaism, Bnei Brak covers an area of 709 hectares (1,752 acre ...

is named after his great-grandfather, who was one of the founders of the town. The family has written that this last detail authenticates Daniel's own voice and demonstrates his willingness to claim his identity. Judea Pearl has written that at first this statement surprised him, but he later understood it to be a reference to the town-building tradition of his family, in contrast with the destructive aims of his captors. Judea Pearl then enlarged upon the idea by inviting responses from artists, government leaders, authors, journalists, scientists, scholars,

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

s, and others. All wrote personal responses to what they thought upon hearing that these were Pearl's last words. Some responses were one sentence while others were several pages in length. The book is organized by five themes: Identity; Heritage; Covenant, Chosenness, and Faith; Humanity and Ethnicity; Tikkun Olam (Repairing the World) and Justice. Contributors include Theodore Bikel,

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Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; Bader; March 15, 1933 – September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until Death and state funeral of Ruth Bader ...

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Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...

, Daniel Schorr,

Elie Wiesel Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel (September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, List of Nobel Peace Prize laureates#1980, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored Elie Wiesel bibliogra ...

, Peter Yarrow, and A.B. Yehoshua. In western Massachusetts, where Pearl had been a young journalist, his friend and former bandmate, Todd Mack, established a new nonprofit organization called Fodfest (later renamed Music in Common), to continue Pearl's legacy of "bridge building", Mack said.

Posthumous recognition

In 2002, Pearl posthumously received the Elijah P. Lovejoy, Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award from Colby College and in 2007, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Moral Courage Award from the Holocaust Museum Houston, Houston Holocaust Museum. On April 16, 2007, Pearl was added to the Holocaust Memorial on Miami Beach as the first non-Holocaust victim. His father gave his consent for the induction in order to remind generations to come that "The forces of barbarity and evil are still active in our world. The Holocaust didn't finish in 1945." Journalist Bradley Burston criticized the addition of a post-Holocaust victim to the memorial, saying "it diminishes the uniqueness of the Holocaust". In 2010, the International Press Institute named Pearl one of its World Press Freedom Heroes. On December 10, 2007, President George W. Bush and Laura Bush invited Ruth and Judea Pearl, parents of Daniel Pearl, to the White House Hanukkah Party, White House Hanukkah reception. They lighted the Pearl family Menorah (Hanukkah), menorah that once belonged to Daniel's great-grandparents, Chaim and Rosa Pearl, who brought it with them when they moved from Poland to Mandatory Palestine in 1924. There they helped establish the town of Bnei Brak. The late former mayor of New York City Ed Koch requested that his own tombstone be inscribed with Pearl's words: "My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish."

Films

''The Journalist and the Jihadi: The Murder of Daniel Pearl'' (2006) a television documentary by Indian directors Ahmed Alauddin Jamal and Ramesh Sharma which aired on

compares the contrasting lives of Sheikh and Daniel Pearl. In 2007, the film ''A Mighty Heart (film), A Mighty Heart'' was released, based on Mariane Pearl's A Mighty Heart, memoir of the same name. ''Omerta (2017 film), Omerta'', an Indian biographical film based on the life of Sheikh, was released in 2017 and received positive reviews.

Music

American minimalist music, minimalist composer Steve Reich wrote his 2006 work ''Daniel Variations'', jointly commissioned by the Daniel Pearl Foundation and the Barbican Centre, which interweaves Pearl's own words with verses from the Book of Daniel.

Institutions and awards in Pearl's name

Shortly after Pearl's death, his parents founded the Daniel Pearl Foundation. The foundation's mission is to promote cross-cultural understanding through journalism, music, and dialogue. The honorary board of the Daniel Pearl Foundation includes

, former US President Bill Clinton,

, John L. Hennessy, Ted Koppel, Queen Noor of Jordan, Sari Nusseibeh, Mariane Pearl, Itzhak Perlman, and

. The Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture at UCLA was established by the foundation in 2002. Christopher Hitchens delivered a lecture on March 3, 2010. Other lecturers have included Anderson Cooper, David Brooks (journalist), David Brooks, Ted Koppel,

, Jeff Greenfield, Daniel Schorr, and Thomas Friedman. Soka University of America's student news magazine, titled ''the Pearl'', is named in honor of Daniel Pearl. The 2021 Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture will be given on February 2, 2021, by CNN's lead Washington correspondent Jake Tapper On May 19, 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama signed the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act, which protects U.S. journalists around the world. The act is also designed to use tools from the Secretary of State to ensure that freedom of press is upheld in other countries. In 2010, ''Moment (magazine), Moment'' established The Daniel Pearl Investigative Journalism Initiative to provide grants and mentors for independent journalists to conduct in-depth reporting on anti-Semitism and other prejudices. The edited stories are published in ''Moment''. The project has already produced two stories that have been nominated for the prestigious Livingston Award—the equivalent of the Pulitzer for journalists under 35. Institutions named after Pearl *The Sammy Ofer School of Communications at IDC Herzliya introduced the Daniel Pearl International Journalism Institute, a new partnership between IDC Herzliya and the Daniel Pearl Foundation. The multimedia newsroom at the School of Communications was named in honor of Daniel Pearl. *The Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, MD has named their gymnasium after Pearl, with a large block sign reading Daniel Pearl Memorial Gymnasium. The school annually celebrates a Daniel Pearl Day. Awards *In 2005, ''The Wall Street Journal'', in conjunction with the Sciences Po, École de Journalisme de Sciences Po, gave the first Daniel Pearl Prize to Louis-Étienne Vigneault-Dubois from Canada, at a ceremony held on June 10 in Paris. *In western Massachusetts, with help from the newspapers there for which Pearl worked early in his career (the ''

'' and the ''Berkshire Eagle''), friends of Pearl established the Daniel Pearl Berkshire Scholarship, awarded annually beginning in 2003. *Since 2003, Stanford's Department of Communication has awarded a paid summer internship with ''The Wall Street Journal'', known as the "Daniel Pearl Journalism Internship". *In 2008 the

' bi-annual ICIJ awards were renamed the ''Daniel Pearl Awards for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting''. *The Samuel Eells Literary and Educational Foundation annually awards the Brother Daniel Pearl Stanford 85' Award for Literary Excellence to one undergraduate member of the Alpha Delta Phi Society or Fraternity who has displayed exceptional skill and enthusiasm in fiction, non-fiction, poetry, music and lyrics, photography, or film. Schools named after Pearl *In May 2007, the Communications Technology Magnet School at Birmingham High School in Los Angeles was renamed the Daniel Pearl Magnet High School. In July 2009, it became a stand-alone high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District. *In East Brunswick Township, Temple B'nai Shalom renamed their Hebrew School 'The Daniel Pearl Education Center' after Pearl. Additionally, the Synagogue has created a "Daniel Pearl Education Scholarship".

Notes

References

Sources

* – 'Fahad Naseem, one of the three militants accused of kidnapping Pearl, told a judge in Karachi yesterday that Pearl was kidnapped because he was "a Jew and is working against Islam."' * – 'The intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that information from American intelligence agencies helped Pakistani investigators track down the ring involved in the plot. Information from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Al Qaeda's former head of operations who was captured in March 2002, aided the investigation, he said. American officials say they believe that Mr. Mohammed was the person who actually killed Mr. Pearl.' *

External links

*
Daniel Pearl International Journalism Institute, IDC Herzliya

Daniel Pearl Berkshire Scholarship
*[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-court-danielpearl/pakistan-re-arrests-four-men-acquitted-in-daniel-pearl-murder-case-idUSKBN21L17R Pakistan re-arrests four men acquitted in Daniel Pearl murder case]
The Daniel Pearl FoundationDaniel Pearl
at the Rewards for Justice Program
South Asian Journalists Association Roundup
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