Family of US Journalist Daniel Pearl Marks 21 Years Since His Murder
US journalist Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal’s South Asian bureau chief, was killed 21 years ago in Pakistan. His father, Judea, tweeted on Tuesday: “Danny’s official Yahrzeit is tomorrow, February 1st. Tonight we’ll light the Soul Candle (Ner Neshama) and ask him to speak on our behalf, for a world gone mad, in places where humanity, wisdom and courage once reigned.”
Pearl had been investigating a story about the alleged financing of al-Qaida via a Pakistan-based terror movement. Pearl disappeared in Karachi on Jan. 23, 2002, on the way to what he believed would be an interview, and was decapitated by his captors nine days later. A 3.5-minute video of Pearl’s murder by beheading, titled “The Slaughter of the Spy-Journalist, the Jew Daniel Pearl,” was sent to the U.S. consulate by a group calling itself the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty. pseudonym of the Islamist jihadist group Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Danny's official Yahrzeit is tomorrow, February 1st. Tonight we'll light the Soul Candle (Ner Neshama) and ask him to speak on our behalf, a world gone mad, in places where humanity, wisdom and courage once reigned.
Yitgadal V'Yitkadash Shmey Rabbahttps://t.co/bbmbinQCyB https://t.co/1STPtsbvAb— Judea Pearl (@yudapearl) February 1, 2023
Pearl, who was executed while on his knees, famously said as his last words: “My name is Daniel Pearl. I’m a Jewish-American from Encino, California, USA. … on my father’s side the family is Zionist. My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish. My family follows Judaism. We’ve made numerous family visits to Israel.”
Several months later, British national Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was convicted of Pearl’s murder and sentenced to life in prison. In April 2020, the Sindh province High Court ruled that Sheikh was innocent of Pearl’s murder but guilty of his kidnapping, and that his seven-year sentence for that crime had long since been served since he had remained behind bars since his 2002 conviction. The Pakistani Supreme Court’s decision to acquit Sheikh of the murder and order him released was appealed by the Pearl family and rejected. In March 2021, he was moved to a well-guarded place in his home city of Lahore from the southern port city of Karachi.
In 2007, Pakistani Al-Qaida terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who remains held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp for his major involvement in the 9/11 attacks, claimed responsibility for Pearl’s murder.
