Court appearance for Briton who masterminded kidnap

Dozens of heavily armed police surrounded a Karachi court today for the appearance of the British Islamic militant who confessed to masterminding the abduction and murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl.

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a former public schoolboy from Wanstead, east London, was taken to the court in a convoy of nine armoured cars.

The London School of Economics dropout confessed in court last month that he abducted Pearl, but has since withdrawn the statement, which was not made under oath and therefore inadmissible as evidence.

Prosecutors in the Pakistani port city are likely to present a case against Saeed using the testimony of a taxi driver, Nasir Abbas.

Abbas told police that on the night Pearl disappeared, he saw Saeed step out of white car and shake hands with the reporter. The two men then stepped into another vehicle.

A few weeks later, the FBI obtained a gruesome video showing Pearl’s execution. His body has not been recovered.

Pearl, the Wall Street Journal’s South Asia bureau chief, was examining links between Pakistani extremists and Londoner Richard Reid, who was arrested in December after allegedly trying to blow up a transatlantic flight with explosives in his shoes.

The US has expressed interest in prosecuting Saeed, but President Pervez Musharraf’s government said Pakistan wants to try him first before considering whether to extradite him.

Meanwhile, the lawyer for Saeed’s three alleged Pakistani accomplices demanded his clients either be charged or released.

Khawaja Naveed said he has had no access to the three men since police arrested them on January 30.

‘‘The police are fabricating evidence,’’ Naveed said. He said his three clients - Fahad Naseem, Sheikh Mohammed Adeel and Salman Saqib - are unable to construct their defence until formal charges are presented.