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Daniel Pearl (October 10, 1963 – February 1, 2002) was an American
journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
who worked for ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
.'' He was kidnapped and later decapitated by terrorists in
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
.'''' Pearl was born in
Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...
, and raised in Encino, Los Angeles, to a Jewish family of mixed European and West Asian origins; his father is of Polish Jewish descent and his mother was an Iraqi Jew from
Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesipho ...
. After obtaining his Bachelor of Arts in communication from Stanford University, Pearl embarked on a career in journalism. He was working as the
South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...
Bureau Chief of ''The Wall Street Journal'', based in
Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
. Infamously, he was kidnapped by Islamist militants when he went to
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
as part of an investigation into the alleged links between British citizen Richard Reid (known as the "shoe bomber") and
al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
. Pearl was killed by his captors.
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh ( ur, احمد عمر سعید شیخ; sometimes known as Umar Sheikh, Sheikh Omar,Note that this term is more commonly used in reference to Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman Sheik Syed or by the alias Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad;''CNN ...
, a British national of Pakistani origin, was sentenced to death by hanging for Pearl's abduction and murder in 2002, but his conviction for murder was overturned by a Pakistani court in the summer of 2020.


Early life and education

Pearl was born in
Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...
, to
Judea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous south ...
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 in the City of
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
, 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. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...
as
professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professor ...
of
computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includin ...
and statistics and later director of the Cognitive Systems Laboratory. In 2011, Judea Pearl 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 compu ...
, 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'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'' article, "Roots in the Holy Land". Pearl attended Portola Junior High School and Birmingham High School. Danny, as he was known throughout his life, attended Stanford University from 1981 to 1985, where he stood out as a
Communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inqu ...
major with
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
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 KZSU is a freeform FM radio station broadcasting from the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California, United States. KZSU broadcasts in stereo at 90.1 MHz FM with an effective radiated power of 500 watts. The station is owned b ...
. 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.''


Journalism career

Following a trip to the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
, China and Europe, Pearl started his professional journalism career at the '' North Adams Transcript'' and '' The Berkshire Eagle'' in western
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
. 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., bureau to cover
telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than tha ...
. 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 violins, violas, cellos and other string instruments built by members of the Italian family Stradivari, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), during the 17th and 18th centuries. They are ...
violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
allegedly found on a highway on-ramp and a June 2000 story about
Iranian pop music Iranian pop music or Persian pop music ( fa, موسیقی پاپ ایرانی) refers to pop music originated in Iran, with songs mainly in Persian and other regional Persian dialects of the country and region. History Early Iranian popular music ...
. He became more involved in international affairs: his most notable investigations covered the ethnic wars in the
Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as 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 throughout the who ...
, where he discovered that charges of an alleged
genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the L ...
committed in
Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Eur ...
were unsubstantiated. He also explored the American missile attack on a supposed military facility in Khartoum, 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 Glamour may refer to: Arts Film * ''Glamour'' (1931 film), a British film * ''Glamour'' (1934 film), an American film * ''Glamour'' (2000 film), a Hungarian film Writing * ''Glamour'' (magazine), a magazine for women * ''The 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

The Pearls settled in
Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
, after Daniel Pearl was made Southeast Asia bureau chief of ''The Wall Street Journal''. They traveled to Karachi, Pakistan, which he used as a base for reporting on the United States'
War on Terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...
ism 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 Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani at the Village Restaurant in downtown
Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former ...
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 Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh ( ur, احمد عمر سعید شیخ; sometimes known as Umar Sheikh, Sheikh Omar,Note that this term is more commonly used in reference to Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman Sheik Syed or by the alias Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad;''CNN ...
, 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 (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 Lashkar-e-Omar (The Army of Omar) is an Islamic fundamentalist terrorist organisation. The group, which was formed in January 2002, is a mixture of elements from three other terrorist groups: Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and Jai ...
umbrella.
Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
leaders were also involved in the kidnapping and murder of Pearl, with
Saif al-Adel Saif al-Adel ( ar, سيف العدل; born April 11, 1960/63) is a former Egyptian colonel, explosives expert, and a high-ranking member of al-Qaeda who is still at large. Adel is under indictment by the United StatesKhalid Sheikh Mohammed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (sometimes also spelled Shaikh; also known by at least 50 pseudonyms; born March 1, 1964 or April 14, 1965) is a Pakistani Islamist militant held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp under terrorism-r ...
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 e-mail address—sent the United States a range of demands, including the freeing of all Pakistani
terror Terror(s) or The Terror may refer to: Politics * Reign of Terror, commonly known as The Terror, a period of violence (1793–1794) after the onset of the French Revolution * Terror (politics), a policy of political repression and violence Emoti ...
detainees, and the release of a halted U.S. shipment of
F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful ...
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, 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 and repatriation of all Pakistani nationals detained by the US, the end of US presence in Pakistan and the delivery of
F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful ...
fighter planes paid for by Pakistan in the 1980s but not delivered at the time. 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 caught by February 6, 2002, after the IP address of those who sent the ransom 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 computer expert. The man responsible for the planning and execution of the kidnapping,
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh ( ur, احمد عمر سعید شیخ; sometimes known as Umar Sheikh, Sheikh Omar,Note that this term is more commonly used in reference to Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman Sheik Syed or by the alias Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad;''CNN ...
, surrendered to a former
ISI ISI or Isi may refer to: Organizations * Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a classical conservative organization focusing on college students * Ice Skating Institute, a trade association for ice rinks * Indian Standards Institute, former name of ...
officer, Brig.
Ijaz Shah Ijaz Ahmed Shah is a Pakistani politician, former officer of the Pakistan Army, and a former Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officer.India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
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. On March 21, 2002, in
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
, 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 has 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'', President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf stated that Sheikh may have been an agent of MI6, and at some point may have become a double agent. On March 10, 2007,
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (sometimes also spelled Shaikh; also known by at least 50 pseudonyms; born March 1, 1964 or April 14, 1965) is a Pakistani Islamist militant held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp under terrorism-r ...
claimed responsibility, before his Combatant Status Review Tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, for the murder of Daniel Pearl. He is an alleged Al Qaeda operative reported to be third in command under Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 2001 attacks. He claimed to have beheaded Pearl. In a confession read during his Tribunal hearing, Khalid Sheikh 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 the phrasing leaked in 2002 from his interrogation at a CIA
black site In military terminology, a black site is a location at which an unacknowledged black operation or black project is conducted. According to the Associated Press, "Black sites are clandestine jails where prisoners generally are not charged with ...
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. According to an investigative report published in January 2011 by Georgetown University, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
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 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. 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 2020/2021

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 that was counted as time served. At the time, Omar 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 set to be released, and stated that they will challenge the acquittal and hold the men on a measure that allows the government to hold terrorism suspects for up to three months (which has been repeatedly extended). 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 that overturned the convictions of 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 exonerating Sheikh for the kidnapping and murder of Pearl. On September 28, 2020, Pakistan's Supreme Court accepted the appeal by the family of Daniel Pearl seeking to keep a British-born Pakistani man (Omar Sheikh) on death row over the beheading of the Wall Street Journal reporter, and to uphold the life sentences of his three co-co-conspirators. On December 24, 2020, A Pakistani court ordered the release of four men being held over the 2002 abduction and killing of the American journalist Daniel Pearl, arguing that they had been acquitted months ago, and that their continued detention was illegal. On December 29, 2020, United States Acting Attorney General
Jeffrey A. Rosen Jeffrey Adam Rosen (born April 2, 1958) is an American lawyer who served as the acting United States attorney general from December 2020 to January 2021 and as the United States deputy attorney general from 2019 to 2020. Before joining the Depar ...
released a strongly worded statement affirming that if Omar Sheikh and his co-conspirators are 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 Governor
Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, lobbyist, and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Christie, who was born in ...
confirmed that a federal grand jury in New Jersey indicted Omar Sheikh and his co-conspirators for the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl on March 14, 2002 under his tenure as U.S. Attorney for the state of New Jersey. On January 28, 2021, Pakistan's Supreme Court dismissed an appeal against the acquittal of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh in connection with the kidnapping and beheading of journalist Daniel Pearl. The court also ordered that three other Pakistanis who were sentenced to life in prison for their part in Pearl's kidnapping and death, should also be freed. In a statement, Pearl's family called the decision "illegal and unfair" and said they would appeal the decision. 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 government official and diplomat serving as the 71st United States secretary of state since January 26, 2021. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and ...
issued a statement declaring that the "US is committed to securing justice for Daniel Pearl's family and holding terrorists accountable." On January 30, 2021, 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. Govt will file move application for the constitution of larger bench to hear review petition. On February 2, 2021, the Supreme Court ordered Omar Sheikh (the alleged mastermind of Pearl's abduction and beheading) off death row and moved to a so-called government safe house. Sheikh had been on death row for 18 years, but will be under guard and is 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 (who was acquitted of murdering American journalist Daniel Pearl) to a rest house within the premises of
Kot Lakhpat Jail Central Jail Lahore is a prominent prison situated in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan at Rakh Chandra ( Kot Lakhpat). The prison is also known as Kot Lakhpat Jail with reference to its location. The jail houses more than four times the 4000 prisoner c ...
. He is expected to remain there while the rest of the appeal process plays out in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.


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 and more about his 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 starring Dan Futterman as Daniel Pearl,
Angelina Jolie Angelina Jolie (; born Angelina Jolie Voight; June 4, 1975) is an American actress, filmmaker, humanitarian and former Special Envoy to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award ...
as Mariane Pearl,
Irfan Khan Irfan Khan may refer to: * Irrfan Khan (1967–2020), Indian actor * Irfan Khan (Indian cricketer) (born 1988), Indian cricketer * Irfan Khan (Pakistani cricketer) (born 2002), Pakistani cricketer *Irfan Khan (singer) (born 1982), Pakistani Pushto ...
, Adnan Siddiqui, Archie Panjabi, and Will Patton.with appearances by Alyy Khan and Zafar Karachiwala On September 1, 2003, a book titled ''Who Killed Daniel Pearl?'' was published, written by Bernard-Henri Lévy. The book, which the author characterized as an "investigative novel", stirred controversy for some of its speculative conclusions about the killing, for some of its characterizations of Pakistan, and for the author's decision to engage in an exercise of fictionalizing Pearl's thoughts in the final moments of his life. Lévy was criticized for the book. At one point 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. HBO Films produced a 79-minute documentary titled ''The Journalist and the Jihadi: The Murder of Daniel Pearl''. It premiered on HBO 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, and was nominated for two Emmy Awards. 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'' (Jewish Lights Publishing, 2004). At one point on the video, Pearl said: "My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish", after which Pearl added one obscure detail, that a street in Israel's Bnei Brak is named after his great grandfather, who was one of the founders of the town.Pearl, Ruth & Judea, eds.
I Am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl
''. Jewish Lights Pub., January 2004. .
The family has written that it understands 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 contrasted with the destructive aims of his captors. Judea Pearl then enlarged 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 ...
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. 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,
Alan Dershowitz Alan Morton Dershowitz ( ; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and former law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law and American criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law School, where he was appointe ...
, Kirk Douglas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Larry King, Amos Oz, Shimon Peres, Daniel Schorr, Elie Wiesel, Peter Yarrow, and A.B. Yehoshua. In western Massachusetts, where Pearl had been a young journalist, friend and former bandmate, Todd Mack, established a new nonprofit organization, 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 HBO compares the contrasting lives of Sheikh and Danel 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 Christiane Amanpour, former US President Bill Clinton, Abdul Sattar Edhi, John L. Hennessy, Ted Koppel, Queen Noor of Jordan, Sari Nusseibeh, Mariane Pearl, Itzhak Perlman, and Elie Wiesel. 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, Larry King, 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 '' North Adams Transcript'' 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 International Consortium of Investigative Journalists' 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".


See also

* 2006 Fox journalists kidnapping * History of the Jews in Los Angeles * Islamic terrorism * List of kidnappings * List of solved missing person cases * List of unsolved murders (21st century), List of unsolved murders


People involved in similar kidnappings/murders

* Eugene Armstrong * Nick Berg * Kenneth Bigley * Amjad Farooqi, Amjad Hussain Farooqi * James Foley (photojournalist), James Foley * Jack Hensley * Margaret Hassan * Paul Marshall Johnson Jr. * Seif Adnan Kanaan * Shosei Koda * Yevgeny Rodionov * Piotr Stańczak * Kim Sun-il * Austin Tice


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.' *


Further reading

*Bernard-Henri Lévy, Lévy, Bernard-Henri,
Who Killed Daniel Pearl?
', Melville House Publishing, 2003. *Pearl, Daniel,
At Home in the World: Collected Writings from the Wall Street Journal
', New York: Free Press, June 2002. *Mariane Pearl, Pearl, Mariane, and Sarah Crichton,
A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband, Danny Pearl
', New York: Scribner, 2003. *Pearl, Ruth and Judea, eds.
I Am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl
''. Jewish Lights Pub., January 2004. .


External links

*
Daniel Pearl International Journalism Institute, IDC HerzliyaDaniel Pearl Berkshire ScholarshipPakistan 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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