Omerta: Here’s All You Need To Know About The Daniel Pearl Murder Case!

Omerta is a biopic about the terror tyrant Omar Ahmed Saeed Sheikh. The man behind the westerners’ kidnapping of 1994 and the reason that the Indian Airlines Flight 814 was hijacked. Omar Ahmed Sheikh was imprisoned and jailed in India after the felony of the kidnapping. The hijackers of flight 814 demanded the release of Sheikh and three other militants in an exchange for the passengers. Omar Sheikh was then linked with the 9/11  US blasts in 2001. But the case that put him behind bars for a long time was the Murder of Daniel Pearl. Daniel Pearl was an investigative journalist working with The Wall Street Journal of USA. Daniel had a partly American and partly Israeli nationality.

Watch Mukul Dev, the writer of the film, talk about Omerta.

The Childhood And Career Journey: Daniel Pearl was born to Ruth and Judea, Jewish descendants who had settled at Los Angeles. Judea was the computer and statistics professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. Daniel Pearl grew up in the atmosphere where the Israeli roots and the Jewish laws were respected and followed. He was a brilliant student and was schooled at Birmingham High School. He was popularly known as Danny and was a member of Alpha Delta Phi at Stanford University. Danny as he was lovingly called, graduated with a BA in Communications and a solid foundation of journalism. He interned and sought jobs at journalism firms until he joined the Wall Street Journal.

Growth In Career And The Destiny: He had proven his skills in the investigation of ethnic wars and genocide at Balkans and Kosovo. Daniel was investigating the 2001 9/11 attacks on the USA. He had shifted to Karachi and was interviewing the members of Al Qaeda and the officials in tow. Daniel was kidnapped on 23 March 2002. A video was sent to the US government seeking the release of the shipment of F-16 fighter jets and the Pakistani militants that had been detained by the government. When the US government failed to meet the demands a video was again released on 1 February 2002, this showed the murder of Daniel Pearl. The journalist was beheaded by the militants. Daniel’s body was mutilated and his head was severed. The parts of his body were found buried in Pakistan on May 16.

Justice For Daniel Pearl: In association with the abduction of Daniel Pearl, four militants have been arrested. One of them is Omar Ahmed Sheikh, he is the chief suspect. Omar Sheikh was also said to have murdered Pearl on the video. The arrest occurred over the last two decades. When the last suspect was arrested in 2019, the court decided to present the hearing. Omar Sheikh was sentenced to death but the court overturned this judgement after the evidence of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad’s acknowledgement of the murder surfaced. Omar Sheikh’s sentence reduced to seven years of jail (which had already been covered). All the other convicts have been acquitted in the recent judgement of Sindh High Court that came through on 2nd April 2020.

Current Status Of The Case: Daniel’s parents have appealed to the Supreme Court of Pakistan but the court refused to overturn the Sindh High Court’s judgement. Daniel’s parents have reportedly said, that ‘it is a mockery of justice’.

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