DNA 'identifies body as murdered reporter'

DNA tests have confirmed that a body found in a shallow grave in Pakistan is that of murdered American reporter Daniel Pearl, a US official has said.

Pakistani police have been informed of the results, the official said in Washington, who added that the test results had been known for some time. A Briton has been sentenced to death for the killing.

Wall Street Journal writer Pearl disappeared on January 23 in Karachi while researching links between Pakistani extremists and British shoe bomb suspect Richard Reid, arrested in December on a flight from Paris to Miami.

A body believed to be the American correspondent’s was found in May near a shed in Karachi where he disappeared, but US and senior Pakistani officials indicated earlier yesterday that the remains were most likely Pearl’s but refused to positively confirm it.

The reporter’s decapitated body was found near a mud hut in which police said they recovered a car seat on which Pearl was sitting in photographs that accompanied e-mails sent to media outlets by his kidnappers.

Pieces of clothing that resembled those Pearl was wearing in the photographs were also found there, according to police.

Steven Goldstein, a vice president of the Journal’s parent company, Dow Jones & Co, said he had no comment, adding ‘‘that is an issue for the authorities in Pakistan and the US’’.

On Monday a court convicted Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, 28, originally of Wanstead, east London, and three others in the Pearl case. Saeed was sentenced to death by hanging, and the others received life imprisonment, which in Pakistan means 25 years.

Yesterday Saeed’s lawyer filed an appeal with the High Court of Sindh province, claiming the verdict was based on ‘‘fake, false and provenly planted evidence’’.

Three other defendants in the case Salman Saqib, Fahad Naseem and Shaikh Adil filed appeals on Wednesday. Seven others are being sought.

The DNA tests are sensitive because they could prompt the appeals court to order a new trial. Police were led to the grave by three men who have not been charged in the case.

Defence lawyers maintained their clients were innocent and accused authorities of stalling on charging the three others to avoid undermining their own case.

‘‘Two high court judges will hear this appeal, and I am 100% confident that justice will be done,’’ Saeed’s lawyer, Abdul Waheed Katpar, said.

Saeed’s father said he hoped the court handling the appeal would not bow to external pressure, as he claimed the anti-terrorist court had done.

‘‘The high court is comprised of senior, experienced and independent judges,’’ Saeed Ahmed Sheikh told The Associated Press. ‘‘The high court is much more independent than the court that held the trial.’’

If the appeals are denied at the provincial level, the four can take their case to the Supreme Court. If the appellate court throws out the conviction, the prosecution can ask the Supreme Court to reinstate it.

The appeals process can take more than a year, although the courts are expected to handle this politically sensitive case expeditiously.

Saeed admitted his role in the kidnapping during his initial court appearance on February 14 but later recanted. His statement was considered inadmissible because it was not made under oath.

The last prominent Islamic extremist to be executed in Pakistan was Haq Nawaz, who was hanged on February 28 2001, for killing an Iranian diplomat a decade earlier.

The United States has asked Pakistan to extradite Saeed to face charges in the Pearl case and in the 1994 kidnapping of another American, who was freed unharmed in India.

The US Embassy has warned Americans to be vigilant in wake of the verdicts, saying the ruling may increase the chance of attacks.