Page 30 - bon-dia-aruba-20200929

A30 world news
Diamars 29 september 2020

Pakistan's top court accepts appeal by Daniel Pearl's family

plot. The lower court found "I have no doubt in my mind," his murder," Pearl's father
Sheikh guilty on a single Shaikh said. He said his doc- Judea said. "We had copies of
lesser charge of abduction, tors ordered him to remain a long email exchange he had
which he is also appealing. on bed rest for the next two with Danny, using a pseud-
The acquittal stunned the weeks, throwing into ques- onym 'Bashir,' was which was
U.S. government, Pearl's tion whether the Supreme downloaded from Danny's
family and journalism advo- Court hearing will happen computer."
cacy groups. next week.
An investigation by students
We felt like (it was) a thun- The Sindh provincial gov- of Georgetown University
derstorm that is about to ernment also is appealing in Washington implicated
reopen our pains of 2002," Shiekh's acquittal. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,
Pearl's father Judea Pearl told Pearl, 38, of Encino, Cali- the alleged mastermind of
The Associated Press in an fornia, was abducted Jan. 23, the 9/11 terrorist attacks in
email Monday. "Pakistan's ju- 2002. In Sheikh's original the United States, in Pearl's
dicial system caved to either trial, emails between Sheikh death. Mohammed has been
inside or outside pressure to and Pearl presented in court in U.S. custody on Guanta-
(AP) — Pakistan's Supreme Court will rule on that next send a message of impunity showed Sheikh gained Pearl's namo Bay since his arrest in
Court on Monday accepted week, Siddiqi said. He said to extremist elements world- confidence sharing their ex- Pakistan in March 2003.
an appeal by the family of Pakistan's top court ex- wide." periences as both waited for
slain American journalist pressed concern about keep- Following Monday's court the birth of their first child. Pearl's father said he has re-
Daniel Pearl seeking to keep ing Sheikh locked up even hearing, the Pearl family's Pearl's wife Marianne Pearl ceived assurances from the
a British-born Pakistani man though he stands acquitted. lawyer, Siddiqi, said there gave birth to a son, Adam, in U.S. State Department that
on death row over the be- was "ample evidence" to May 2002. it was closely following
heading of the Wall Street The appeal could take years," overturn Sheikh's appeal and Evidence entered into court Sheikh's acquittal and sub-
Journal reporter. said Siddiqi. "Today the court return him to death row. accused Sheikh of luring sequent appeals. The trial's
The court delayed until next admitted the appeal and next "There is eyewitness evi- Pearl to his death, giving the outcome could impact rela-
week hearing the appeal over week it will decide if Sheikh dence, there is forensic evi- American journalist a false tions between the two coun-
the lower-court acquittal of stays in jail" until the appeal dence, there are confessional sense of security as he prom- tries and again paint Pakistan
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, is decided. The family is ar- statements," Siddiqi said. ised to introduce him to a as a haven for militants and
who had been on death row guing for Sheikh's continued cleric with militant links. extremists, he said.
since his conviction in 2002 incarceration. Sheikh had Among the confessional The U.S. State Department
over Pearl's killing. been convicted of helping statements is a handwritten, Pakistani police sought to lo- said in a statement that it is
lure Pearl to a meeting in the July 19, 2019 letter by Sheikh cate Pearl for weeks until a watching the case closely and
The Supreme Court ordered southern Pakistani port city that acknowledged his in- video received by U.S. diplo- "stands with the Pearl fam-
Sheikh to remain in custody of Karachi in which he was volvement in Pearl's killing, mats showed his beheading. ily during this arduous and
but Faisal Siddiqi, the lawyer kidnapped. Pearl had been Siddiqi said. In the letter, The 2019 letter by Sheikh painfull process."
for Pearl's family, told The investigating the link be- Sheikh said his involvement was not among the evidence The Pearl family launched a
Associated Press on Monday tween Pakistani militants and in Pearl's death was "a rela- heard by the lower court that foundation in Daniel's name
the court will decide next Richard C. Reid, dubbed the tively minor one." However, in April acquitted Sheikh on following the killing, said his
week whether Sheikh will re- "Shoe Bomber" after trying to Siddiqi said Sheikh impli- a number of charges, includ- father.
main imprisoned during the blow up a flight from Paris to cates himself in Pearl's killing ing the most serious of the
course of the appeal, which Miami with explosives hid- with that admission. kidnapping for ransom that We keep Danny's memory
could be years. den in his shoes. Sheikh's lawyer, Mahmood lead to Pearl's slaying. alive through the Daniel
Shaikh, told the AP he suf- "The 2019 letter is only one Pearl Foundation, which
The government has argued The lower court's April rul- fered a heart attack while ar- (piece of) evidence to some- pursues his life-long mission
against Sheikh's release, de- ing acquitted Sheikh and guing the case in the lower thing that we knew all along, of spreading friendship and
spite his acquittal in April, three other accomplices, who court, but remained con- without any doubt, that understanding through jour-
saying it would endanger had been sentenced to life fident the acquittal would Sheikh lured Danny into the nalism, dialogue and music,"
the public. But the Supreme in jail for their role in the stand. abduction trap which led to he said.

Food trucks provide rare bright spot in hard-hit West Bank

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) The Now I have six employees who are Authority, which governs parts of the to impose a 10-day lockdown in July.
coronavirus crisis has hit West Bank working in two vans, and I am pre- West Bank, is expected to face a fund- The PA has now reported more than
restaurants hard. But one part of the paring a new van that is going to have ing gap. 35,000 cases in the West Bank and
dining sector is bucking the trend: another four new employees," Haj over 250 deaths.
food trucks. Yasin said. The truck parked by the After relative success containing the More than a quarter of Palestinians
curb on a central street in the West virus this spring, the territory has tak- lived in poverty before the virus. The
With dine-in restaurants mostly Bank city of Ramallah as workers en a similar trajectory as that of Israel World Bank says the figure has likely
closed due to health restrictions, grilled hot dogs and customers wait- with a post-lockdown rise in cases risen to 30% in the West Bank.
food trucks have allowed entrepre- ed for their orders. that forced the Palestinian Authority
neurial businessmen to find a way to Mohammed Shkukani is another
keep working. It's a rare bright spot entrepreneur who runs a coffee van
in a territory where unemployment is in Ramallah. He said the mobile van
well over 20%. was his first business. He likes having
the flexibility of being able to move.
Issa Haj Yasin, an engineering stu- "If I face a political or economic prob-
dent, opened his first food truck be- lem in a place, I can move to another
fore the coronavirus crisis to provide place," he said.
himself an income to cover his uni-
versity tuition and living expenses. The pandemic comes at a hard time
The business stopped in the first for the Palestinian economy. It grew
months of the crisis, but reopened as by just 1% in 2019 and is projected
the pandemic worsened. Now busi- to shrink by 7.6% to 11% in 2020,
ness has more than doubled. according to the World Bank. The
internationally backed Palestinian