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Pakistan Military Court Sentences Terrorist to Death
Naeem Bukhari was involved in killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—A Pakistani military court sentenced to death the extremist known as Naeem Bukhari, regarded as one of the country’s most dangerous terrorists, who was involved in the 2002 kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporterDaniel Pearl, security officials said.
Naeem Bukhari’s real name is Attaur Rehman, and he headed a faction of the violent Pakistani anti-Shiite group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. He served as a key link between Pakistani militants and al Qaeda, which influenced a part of the Pakistani jihadist movement to turn against their own country after 2001, say terrorism experts.
The military said Monday that Mr. Bukhari had been condemned to death along with three others for involvement in “heinous offenses related to terrorism,” including the killing of civilians and security personnel. The announcement didn’t specify which attacks Mr. Bukhari was convicted of, but a security official said that it didn’t include the Daniel Pearl case. The military courts were set up, controversially, two years ago to try terrorism suspects, and the trials are held in secret.
The military announced in February this year that it had caught Mr. Bukhari, saying that among his crimes, he was a planner and financier behind an attack on Karachi airport in 2014 in which gunmen stormed the facility, killing at least 28 people. Mr. Bukhari was originally detained in 2002 but released from jail in early 2010 under unclear circumstances, when he resumed terrorist activities, security officials say.
Mr. Bukhari headed the kidnapping group that incarcerated Mr. Pearl after he was abducted in the southern city of Karachi in January 2002, after being lured into a trap by the militants, according to past reporting by The Wall Street Journal and Pakistani security officials. Mr. Pearl was later murdered.
Mr. Pearl, the Journal’s South Asia bureau chief, who was 38 at the time, thought he was meeting contacts for a story on terrorism when he was kidnapped. Mr. Bukhari was never charged with this crime, as Pakistani investigators feared that would jeopardize the case against the man they said planned the abduction and killing, Omar Saeed Sheikh, according to retired security officials formerly involved in the case. Mr. Sheikh was convicted of Mr. Pearl’s killing in 2002 and sentenced to death—he remains in prison, pending appeals.
An investigation by the independent Pearl Project said that Mr. Bukhari arranged the safe house where the group kept Mr. Pearl. He also brought clothes and food for Mr. Pearl and arranged guards, according to a 2011 report from the Pearl Project. Asra Nomani, a friend of Daniel Pearl and former Wall Street Journal reporter, is a co-director of the Pearl Project, which is backed by the Center for Public Integrity, an organization in Washington that supports investigative journalism. The Pearl Project report describes Mr. Bukhari as the “logistical kingpin” of the operation to hold Mr. Pearl.
When Mr. Bukhari was caught, he and others had been planning a massive jailbreak to release Omar Saeed Sheikh, according to the military.
Attempts to contact a representative of Mr. Bukhari were unsuccessful.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/pakistan-military-court-sentences-terrorist-to-death-1481040857
Naeem Bukhari was involved in killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—A Pakistani military court sentenced to death the extremist known as Naeem Bukhari, regarded as one of the country’s most dangerous terrorists, who was involved in the 2002 kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporterDaniel Pearl, security officials said.
Naeem Bukhari’s real name is Attaur Rehman, and he headed a faction of the violent Pakistani anti-Shiite group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. He served as a key link between Pakistani militants and al Qaeda, which influenced a part of the Pakistani jihadist movement to turn against their own country after 2001, say terrorism experts.
The military said Monday that Mr. Bukhari had been condemned to death along with three others for involvement in “heinous offenses related to terrorism,” including the killing of civilians and security personnel. The announcement didn’t specify which attacks Mr. Bukhari was convicted of, but a security official said that it didn’t include the Daniel Pearl case. The military courts were set up, controversially, two years ago to try terrorism suspects, and the trials are held in secret.
The military announced in February this year that it had caught Mr. Bukhari, saying that among his crimes, he was a planner and financier behind an attack on Karachi airport in 2014 in which gunmen stormed the facility, killing at least 28 people. Mr. Bukhari was originally detained in 2002 but released from jail in early 2010 under unclear circumstances, when he resumed terrorist activities, security officials say.
Mr. Bukhari headed the kidnapping group that incarcerated Mr. Pearl after he was abducted in the southern city of Karachi in January 2002, after being lured into a trap by the militants, according to past reporting by The Wall Street Journal and Pakistani security officials. Mr. Pearl was later murdered.
Mr. Pearl, the Journal’s South Asia bureau chief, who was 38 at the time, thought he was meeting contacts for a story on terrorism when he was kidnapped. Mr. Bukhari was never charged with this crime, as Pakistani investigators feared that would jeopardize the case against the man they said planned the abduction and killing, Omar Saeed Sheikh, according to retired security officials formerly involved in the case. Mr. Sheikh was convicted of Mr. Pearl’s killing in 2002 and sentenced to death—he remains in prison, pending appeals.
An investigation by the independent Pearl Project said that Mr. Bukhari arranged the safe house where the group kept Mr. Pearl. He also brought clothes and food for Mr. Pearl and arranged guards, according to a 2011 report from the Pearl Project. Asra Nomani, a friend of Daniel Pearl and former Wall Street Journal reporter, is a co-director of the Pearl Project, which is backed by the Center for Public Integrity, an organization in Washington that supports investigative journalism. The Pearl Project report describes Mr. Bukhari as the “logistical kingpin” of the operation to hold Mr. Pearl.
When Mr. Bukhari was caught, he and others had been planning a massive jailbreak to release Omar Saeed Sheikh, according to the military.
Attempts to contact a representative of Mr. Bukhari were unsuccessful.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/pakistan-military-court-sentences-terrorist-to-death-1481040857
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