Musharraf memoir could be used in Pearl murder appeal

KARACHI, Sep 26 (Reuters) The lawyer of an Islamist militant sentenced to hang in Pakistan for his role in the murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl said today he would use President Pervez Musharraf's memoir to support an appeal.

British-born, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, better known as Sheikh Omar, was sentenced to death in July 2002 for kidnapping and killing Pearl in the southern city of Karachi earlier that year.

Musharraf in his memoir ''In the Line of Fire'', released yesterday, wrote that while Omar masterminded the kidnapping, Mr Pearl's execution was carried out by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, mastermind of the September. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Mohammed was arrested in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi in March 2003, and handed over to US agents.

Omar had already surrendered to police, an act Musharraf found puzzling.

''Only later did I realise that Omar Sheikh had panicked because the situation had spiralled out of his control,'' Gen Musharraf wrote.

Rai Bashir, lawyer of Omar, said he could use Musharraf's account to argue an appeal lodged in a high court.

''After reading the book, if I feel necessary, I will quote the book in my arguments in favour of my client. It can be used as evidence,'' Mr Bashir told Reuters.

Mr Pearl, a 38-year-old reporter with the Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped in Karachi in early 2002 while researching a story in the aftermath of al Qaeda's September. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

A videotape of Pearl having his throat cut was later circulated by his killers.

Gen Musharraf wrote: ''The man who may have actually killed Pearl or at least participated in his butchery, we eventually discovered, was none other than Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, al Qaeda's number three. When we later arrested and interrogated him, he admitted his participation.'' Three other men have been sentenced to life imprisonment for their part in the crime, but they have lodged appeals too.

REUTERS BDP RK2051