Court awaits confession from Pearl suspect

Chief suspect Omar Saeed is due to reappear in a Karachi court Monday

KARACHI, Pakistan (CNN) -- Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the self-confessed mastermind of the kidnapping of American reporter Daniel Pearl, is to reappear in a Karachi anti-terrorism court Monday where he may fill in details of a crime that shocked the world by its barbarity.

Hours before the appearance of British-born Omar Saeed, troops were in place around the court in central Karachi, where Pearl was abducted.

Pearl's death was confirmed on February 21, but the date of his murder is not known.

Legal authorities, who have kept a tight lid on the hearing, told Reuters news agency it was possible the 28-year-old Islamic radical would confess in full to his part in the kidnapping.

Omar Saeed was arrested on February 12 in Karachi and confessed during police interrogation to planning the kidnapping. His 13-day remand ends Monday.

Murder charge

For his confession to have legal weight in a trial, Omar Saeed must make it before a judge. His detention under anti-terrorism laws is also running out and there is speculation that formal charges of murder and kidnapping may be presented at the hearing.

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"Police will submit the interim charge sheet of the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl on Monday in the court," The News International Web site reported police investigator Manzoor Mughal as saying Sunday.

In his first court appearance last week, Omar Saeed said he arranged Pearl's kidnapping and told the judge he believed Pearl was dead -- a claim widely discredited after earlier claims the reporter was alive.

Also detained are three accused of sending e-mails showing the 38-year-old reporter with a gun to his head and listing demands.

A nationwide manhunt is now underway for at least four other members of Omar Saeed's group suspected of carrying out the brutal murder.

While the United States has asked for Omar Saeed's extradition, Pakistan maintains it must complete its own investigation first.

Even before Pearl's death was confirmed, a federal grand jury in the U.S. had been considering criminal charges. While there was no indication any charges would be filed, a U.S. government source told CNN that one of those who may be charged is Omar Saeed.

Death penalty

The former London School of Economics student will have the chance to apply for bail Monday after which formal charges will be brought against him and a trial can begin.

He could face the death penalty if found guilty of either the abduction or murder of Pearl, whose slaying prompted international condemnation.

President Pervez Musharraf vowed after Pearl's killing to "liquidate terrorists" from Pakistan.

In an unexpected twist, government officials told CNN Sunday that in January the Bush administration asked Pakistan to arrest Omar Saeed in connection with the 1994 kidnapping of three British tourists and one American in India. U.S. officials said they believe Pakistani officials attempted to find him without success.

The Britons -- Paul Rideout, Myles Croston and Rhys Partridge -- said they had been befriended and then lured to a remote Indian village by a man they knew as Rohit Sharma who said he was a student at the LSE.

The tourists were freed after 10 days of captivity in a shootout in which a kidnapper and two policemen were killed.

Indian police, with the help of the British tourists, later identified Rohit Sharma as Omar Saeed.

Pearl's kidnap has some of the same hallmarks. Investigators say the Wall Street Journal reporter was also lured into a trap.