Prosecutors seek to stop defence getting murder video

Pakistan prosecutors today sought to block defence lawyers from obtaining a copy of a video showing the gruesome murder of American reporter Daniel Pearl, saying it only serves to ‘‘generate terrorism.’’

Although the judge granted the defence request, Chief Prosecutor Raja Quereshi got a 72-hour stay so he could appeal to the high court to block access to the video.

‘‘As custodian of the video, we don’t want to generate terrorism in our society. We want to curb it. We do not want to display the gruesome murder and slaughter of one human being by another. It will create a sense of fear and insecurity,’’ he said.

Quereshi said he would be willing to consider playing the video in the courtroom if the defence, which has claimed the tape is a fake, wants experts to view it.

Pearl, the Wall Street Journal’s South Asia bureau chief, disappeared four months ago in the violent port city of Karachi while researching a story on Pakistani militants.

The video that confirmed his death was delivered to US officials in Karachi in February. The four Islamic militants on trial, including a public school educated Londoner, deny kidnapping and murder.

At the trial in Hyderabad, the defence today succeeded in obtaining permission to get an autopsy report on a body found in a shallow grave in Karachi on May 17. Police believe the dismembered corpse, found near a blood-stained shack, may be that of Pearl.

DNA tests being conducted in Lahore will likely take ‘‘at least one more week,’’ according to forensic scientists.

Defence lawyers have said that if the DNA tests confirm it is Pearl and new suspects are charged as a result, the current trial would have to be thrown out and a new one begun.