Pakistan: Pearl suspect will face courts there first

Police cover Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh's head as they lead him into court Tuesday in Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- The U.S. indictment of a man being held in connection with the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl will not change how Pakistan handles the case, a Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman said Friday.

According to Aziz Ahmed Khan, the legal proceedings against Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh will run their course before Pakistan considers extraditing Saeed to the United States.

U.S. officials have said they would like to extradite Saeed from Pakistan to stand trial in the United States. So far, however, Pakistani officials have insisted that they plan to try Saeed for Pearl's murder there.

Saeed has been indicted by a federal grand jury in New Jersey on charges stemming from Pearl's abduction and death, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced Thursday in Washington.

Ashcroft also unveiled a previously sealed indictment against Saeed, charging him with involvement in the abduction of an American tourist in India in 1994.

The family of Daniel Pearl has established a charity "to support the causes to which he dedicated his life." Donations can be sent to: Daniel Pearl Family Foundation c/o The Wall Street Journal P.O. Box 300 Princeton, N.J. 08543 U.S.A.  CNN NewsPass Video    •  Four found guilty in Pearl killing   MORE STORIES   •  Pearl family welcomes verdict   •  UK urges leniency for Pearl killer   •  Tom Mintier: Backlash a fear in Pearl verdicts   •  TIME.com: A casualty of the war on terror  EXTRA INFORMATION   •  Messages of sorrow, shock after Pearl's killing  RESOURCES   •  Obituary: Daniel Pearl   •  Timeline: Key dates in the Pearl kidnapping   •  Gallery: The life of Daniel Pearl

The attorney general said the charges were brought against Saeed in an effort to ensure that U.S. officials are in a position to take custody of him should be released from jail in Pakistan.

"We feel that it's important for us to have charges pending so that in the event of a release, we are in a position to demand the individual's involvement here in the justice system," he said.

Saeed is charged with one count of hostage-taking resulting in Pearl's death and one count of conspiracy to commit hostage-taking resulting in Pearl's death.

If convicted, he could be sentenced to death, Ashcroft said.

He said he had met Thursday with Pearl's widow, Mariane, whom he called "an eloquent and forceful reminder to all of us that what is at stake in the fight against terrorism is nothing less than the values of free speech and open inquiry that Daniel cherished, the values that protect and undergird the freedom we enjoy."

Earlier indictment over 1994 abduction

In the indictment handed up last November in Washington and unsealed Thursday, Saeed is charged with hostage-taking and conspiracy to commit hostage-taking for the 1994 abduction of Bella Nuss, a U.S. tourist visiting New Delhi. The charges carry a life prison sentence, Ashcroft said.

Nuss and three British citizens were taken prisoner by a group called Harakat ul-Ansar, which demanded that India release Kashmiri militants in exchange for the Westerners' freedom. The indictment charges that Saeed was a member of the group and was the person who befriended Nuss and lured him away from his guest house to abduct him.

The hostages were rescued, and Saeed was imprisoned for their kidnapping. But he and two other men were released in 1999 as part of a deal to end a standoff with Muslim militants who hijacked an Indian passenger jet and took 155 people hostage.

Contacted for comment on the indictment, Asad Hayauddin, press attaché at the Pakistani embassy in Washington, said, "There are two processes going on now in Pakistan -- one is a trial process and one is a criminal investigation. The U.S. government is aware of this. The FBI has helped and been involved in the criminal investigation."

Ashcroft also said Saeed clearly didn't act alone in the kidnapping and other individuals could be charged in the ongoing investigation.

The indictment says Saeed was affiliated with "radical, militant organizations," trained in military camps in Afghanistan and fought alongside Taliban and al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan last fall.

In January, Saeed and others conspired to take hostage a journalist from a U.S. newspaper "in order to affect certain U.S. government policies, including policies undertaken in response to [the September 11 terrorist attacks," the indictment said.

On January 23, the indictment alleges, Saeed, posing as a man named Bashir, lured Pearl to a meeting under the false pretense that he was to meet a prominent Muslim cleric. Pearl wanted to interview the cleric in connection with a story he was writing, the indictment said.

The kidnappers, calling themselves the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty, then sent out e-mails to news organizations listing demands that had to be met for Pearl's release, the indictment said.

Pearl was killed sometime before January 30, the day that a second e-mail message was sent to media outlets reiterating the demands and threatening to execute Pearl, according to the indictment. Photos were attached to the message, including one showing someone holding a gun to Pearl's head.

On February 21, the U.S. State Department confirmed that Pearl had been killed, based on a videotape showing his body, which has not been found.