New appeals for release of U.S. reporter

Authorities in Pakistan investigating Daniel Pearl's disappearance say any e-mail received without a photograph of the reporter will be considered fake.

KARACHI, Pakistan (CNN) -- The fate of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl remained unclear Monday, 12 days after he was kidnapped.

The kidnappers, who have identified themselves as the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty, sent an e-mail with a photograph of Pearl on Wednesday.

The group has demanded the release of all Pakistanis held by the United States in the war on terrorism, including those at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Authorities in Pakistan investigating Pearl's disappearance say any e-mail received without a photograph of Pearl will be considered fake. Pakistani officials have deemed a series of conflicting messages via e-mail and telephone about Pearl as apparently unconnected to his kidnapping.

The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad on Friday received a phone call demanding a $2 million ransom. Pakistani officials later detained and released a young man in Islamabad, saying he was playing a prank when made the call.

Meanwhile, an e-mail received by news organizations the same day stated that Pearl had been killed and his body dumped at one of Karachi's more than 200 cemeteries. Police searched the city's graveyards and concluded the claim was false.

VIDEO Pakistani officials say reports that Daniel Pearl is dead are false and that they are expanding the search for the kidnapped American journalist. CNN's Ben Wedeman reports (February 4) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Brian Cabell reviews the journalistic career of Daniel Pearl (February 1) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   MORE STORIES • TIME.com: Person of the Week, Daniel Pearl  • Former pop singer calls for journalist's release  • Farrakhan statement urging release of reporter

Two other young men were placed in custody Saturday in Karachi after authorities raided their home and confiscated their computers, Pakistani Interior Minister Moeen Uddin Haider said. The men were linked to several e-mails sent to news organizations. One of the young men has since been released, officials said.

Haider said he believed Pearl is somewhere in or around Karachi. Officials added that the disappearance of two key suspects has hampered their investigation.

On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal said that a body discovered in Karachi is not Pearl.

"It is not Danny," Steve Goldstein, a spokesman for Dow Jones & Co., the Journal's owner, told CNN Sunday. "We remain hopeful that Danny is alive."

Goldstein reiterated a statement made Saturday by Paul Steiger, the newspaper's managing editor, appealing to Pearl's abductors to deliver proof -- in the form of a picture -- that the reporter is alive.

"We urge them to release Danny," Steiger wrote. "If that is not possible, we call on them to demonstrate that Danny remains alive. They can do this by providing us with a photo of Danny holding today's newspaper."

In the United States, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan renewed his appeal Sunday for the reporter's release, at the behest of Pearl's father. Farrakhan said he is considering a more direct appeal to the kidnappers in Pakistan.

"I might go to Pakistan after our national convention, we will see," Farrakhan said. "If they desire my presence in Pakistan, if my presence in the Muslim world will be advantageous and will help us to come through this time of crisis ... I will go."

Farrakhan said the kidnapping of Pearl is against the teachings of Islam and will not further its cause.

"Islam as a religion is on trial throughout the world," he said. "There is no reason to take an American citizen, no matter where they are in the world, and do them harm simply because you do not like America's policies. This is against Islam."

Pearl, 38, was abducted January 23 while on his way to interview Sheikh Mubarik ali Gilani, the head of the fundamentalist Islamic Jamaat ul-Fuqra group. He wanted to ask Gilani about possible ties the group had to Richard Reid, the alleged airplane shoe bomber being held in the United States.

In addition, former pop star Cat Stevens, who adopted Islam and changed his name to Yusuf Islam, made a plea for Pearl's safe return.

"As a message to those who are holding the journalist Daniel Pearl, I ask that the mercy of Islam be shown," he said in a statement Saturday. "If justice is your goal, then the cause of justice will not be served by killing an innocent man who has nothing but a pen in his hand."

Imran Khan, a Pakistani politician, also asked the kidnappers to let Pearl go.

"While I have consistently opposed the use of indiscriminate force, which has resulted in the loss of thousands of innocent lives in Afghanistan and the continued mistreatment of POWs, the abduction of Mr. Pearl would in no way help the cause of the innocent," he said. "As much as two wrongs don't ever make a right, Daniel Pearl's kidnapping is unlikely to help the innocent victims of the Afghan conflict."

U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Colin Powell also called for Pearl's release in separate interviews Sunday.