Appeal filed against Pearl prison sentences

LAWYERS defending three men sentenced to life imprisonment in Pakistan for their role in the kidnap and murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl said they had filed an appeal against the verdict yesterday.

Lawyers for British-born Islamic militant Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh, sentenced to death for masterminding the crime, were expected to appeal that verdict as well.

Appeal papers for his three accomplices, Sheikh Adil, Fahad Naseem and Salman Saqib, had been filed in the provincial Sindh High Court in Karachi, their lawyers said.