Pakistani authorities have ordered to detain British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three others, who were acquitted of Daniel Pearl murder.
They will be detained for three months despite a lower court’s ruling to overturn their convictions.
The US denounced Thursday’s acquittal of the four, with the top American diplomat for south Asia tweeting it was “an affront to victims of terrorism everywhere”.
The Sindh high court on Thursday acquitted the four, including Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was sentenced to death in 2002 for masterminding Pearl’s murder.
The other three, Fahad Nasim Ahmed, Syed Salman Saqib, Sheikh Muhammad Adil, were sentenced to life.
Wall Street Journal reporter Pearl was investigating Islamist militants in Karachi, the capital of Sindh, after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US when he was kidnapped in January 2002, and later murdered.
The Sindh provincial government’s home department issued the order to arrest and detains the four before they were released from prison.
The law to keep them in detention is one the government has often used to keep high-profile suspects, particularly militants, in custody after being unable to successfully prosecute them in court.
Anti-Racism protesters come out in support of refugees outside the Cladhan Hotel on September 13, 2025 in Falkirk, Scotland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)