Sheikh Omar Defiant After Pearl Death Sentence
Mon Jul 15, 6:06 AM ET
By Imran Maqbool
HYDERABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - A court in Pakistan sentenced British-born Islamic militant Sheikh Omar to death Monday for the kidnap and murder of U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl, drawing a threat of vengeance and calls for Muslims to respond.
Omar, full name Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, and three accomplices convicted along with him showed no emotion as each verdict and sentence was read at the end of closed-door trial. The court jailed the accomplices for life.
But the fury was evident as relatives and lawyers spoke outside the court.
Omar's lawyer, Rai Bashir, who told reporters the defense would appeal, read out a message from his client saying that anyone who tried to carry out the death sentence risked a similar fate.
"I will see whether who wants to kill me will first kill me or get himself killed," Omar, 28, said in his message.
"I have been saying before, this entire (trial) is just waste of time...
It is a decisive war between Islam and kafir (infidels) and everyone is individually proving on which side he is."
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Any of this sound familiar?