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CNN Live At Daybreak

Three Men Arrested in Connection With Pearl Kidnapping Face Judge

Aired February 12, 2002 - 05:08   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In the meantime, in Pakistan, three men arrested in connection with the kidnapping of "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl were hauled before a judge today.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Karachi, where the men appeared before Pakistan's anti-terrorism court -- Ben, what happened?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Carol, those three men appeared before a judge in this anti-terrorist court. This is, in fact, the first case that is going to be tried under an amended anti- terrorist law here in Pakistan. Now, they are suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl.

They arrived at the court with towels over their heads, with their hands in chains, surrounded by more than a dozen heavily armed security guards. The judge remanded the three, who go by the name of Fahad, Adil and Salman into police custody for 14 days

Now, in fact, they've been in police custody for the last eight days, but they haven't been formally brought into custody. It's a very strange legal situation here. And, in fact, we're told by legal sources here that the Pakistanis are still trying to make sense out of this new amended anti-terrorist law.

Anyway, one of the defense lawyers of the three men explained why they are being detained.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The police says that the investigating officer, Hamid Dullah, had disclosed to the judge that the charge against these persons is that they have e-mailed those photographs. This is the charge at the moment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A charge that they had e-mailed the photographs? That is the charge against them? Nothing else?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the moment. Nothing else.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, what...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they have connections with the persons or they know the persons who had kidnapped Pearl.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WEDEMAN: Now, the same defense lawyer acknowledges that two of the three men have, in fact, had links in the past with hard-line Islamic groups. One of them apparently a former constable, had gone to Afghanistan, where he was wounded in what he described as a jihad, a holy war, there.

Now, of course, all three of these men are said to have had contact after the 23 January kidnapping of Daniel Pearl with the so- called mastermind of the kidnappers, the British educated Pakistani militant Sheikh Omar Saeed.

Now, the police say if they can find Saeed, they think they will be able to quickly find where Mr. Pearl is being hidden. But, however, yesterday the police were saying that Sheikh Omar Saeed is not in Karachi. They believe he is in the Lahore area and at the same time they say that Mr. Pearl is in Karachi, which raises the question if Mr. Saeed is the ringleader of the kidnappers, why is he not with Mr. Pearl -- Carol.

COSTELLO: That's a big question. So really they're no closer to finding where Mr. Pearl is?

WEDEMAN: No, in fact, Carol, they are not. And certainly they've been talking quite a lot about this Sheikh Omar Saeed. But there is reason to wonder if he is really the man behind the kidnapping. There are other leads that others are following up, the police, as well, and certainly it is suspicious that this man who they call their ringleader in the past was clearly not a ringleader. He was involved in a 1994 kidnapping in India of American and British tourists there. He wrote a diary that was published and in that diary you can tell that Sheikh Omar Saeed was certainly a major player in the kidnapping, but he was not the mastermind or the ringleader -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So the mystery continues.

Thank you, Ben Wedeman, reporting live for us this morning.

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