SABEW calls for extradition of murderer of WSJ reporter Pearl

Daniel Pearl

The Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing called for the extradition of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the convicted and now freed murderer of journalist Daniel Pearl.

Its statement:

We are deeply troubled by the Pakistan Supreme Court’s decision to exonerate the four men convicted in the 2002 murder of Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter. The Journal is a long-time SABEW member.
On Jan. 28, Pakistan’s highest court freed British national Sheikh, who had been sentenced to death for the murder of Pearl, which the world watched in horror on video replay. In April 2020, the three other men had their convictions overturned.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinkin said in a statement the Biden Administration is prepared to prosecute Sheikh if he is extradited. Acting Attorney General Jeffery Rosen indicated in December that the Trump Administration also supported extradition and trial.
We join media colleagues and others in calling for Pearl’s murderers to be held to account.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.