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CNN Live At Daybreak

Pearl Suspect Says Pearl Is Dead

Aired February 14, 2002 - 06:04   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 Karachi, police also doubt the claim of Daniel Pearl's death.

CNN's Ben Wedeman joins us live now with an update. Ben, what can you tell us?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes Carol, well British-born and educated Sheikh Omar Saeed appeared before an anti-terrorism court in southern Karachi today. There he made a statement. He said, "as far as I know Pearl is dead". Now I must stress that these are simply the words that came out of his mouth, not necessarily what he thinks, what he knows, or what he believes and of course this statement directly contradicts what he told police shortly after he was detained in Lahore on Tuesday when he told the police that Pearl is alive and in Karachi.

And this underscores a problem, since his detention, Mr. Saeed has confused and confounded the police here with his contradictory claims saying one day he's alive, now of course he's dead. For its part, the "Wall Street Journal" has reacted to the news from Karachi, a spokesman telling me, "we continue to be hopeful. We remain confident that Danny is still alive".

Now Saeed did not deny involvement in the kidnapping. He said, "right or wrong, I had my reasons. I think our country should not be catering to America's needs". Now based upon information provided by Saeed to the Karachi police, two raids were carried out in Karachi over night and apparently when they got to those houses, they found no one was inside and according to the neighbors, no one had been inside those houses for quite some time, which goes to underscore that the police here at this point don't really believe much of what Mr. Saeed is saying -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well Ben, you said yesterday he was a tough nut. He seems to be playing with authorities and with the United States.

WEDEMAN: He certainly is. He's playing with the authorities. He's playing with the FBI. He's playing with us. Every day we seem to hear different things and at this point, as far as a source on the whereabouts of Daniel Pearl, his condition, we can't really believe a word he's saying and the police, as well as the government in Islamabad, they seem to be quite fed up with him.

They had high hopes that once they brought him into detention, that within 12 hours, according to one law enforcement official here, they would -- it be crucial that they would probably have when the release of Daniel Pearl. Well those 12 hours have turned into 24. Now it's 48, and Daniel Pearl has still not been found -- Carol.

COSTELLO: It's just awful. Thank you. Ben Wedeman reporting live for us from Pakistan this morning. We won't -- we don't want to drop the topic right now. We want to get more details on the Daniel Pearl case. As Ben just said, the "Wall Street Journal" reporter has been missing now for three weeks.

His friends and his colleagues are not giving up hope that he's still alive despite the latest statements from his suspected kidnapper. Our Michael Okwu is following developments at the "Wall Street Journal". He's live in New York. What can you tell us Michael?

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning to you. That is exactly what people at the "Wall Street Journal" are saying. Steven Goldstein, a spokesperson for the "Wall Street Journal", says that colleagues and friends are still holding on hope that Daniel Pearl is in fact alive.

Now I'm standing in front of one of three "Wall Street Journal" offices here in Manhattan. Some 120 reporters and editors at the "Journal" were relocated to this particular location after their offices near ground zero were essentially decimated on September 11. So you can imagine that for the past five months staffers here at the "Wall Street Journal" have been going through quite an emotional roller coaster.

Now for the past 48 hours or so, as you know, they have been hearing all kinds of reports about the status of Daniel Pearl. They were hoping all to breathe a collective sigh of relief in hearing that he had been released. Of course, journalists, and I dare say Americans everywhere have been hoping to breathe that same sigh of relief.

They had been hoping to hear that in fact he was released, that they were hoping to hear that he's going through psychological counseling. They were hoping to hear that he was meeting with the president of Pakistan, Musharraf, and they were hoping, of course, that he was going to be having some much needed down time with his family.

Now Daniel Pearl has been described by his colleagues as an intelligent, insightful person with a quirky sensibility. His boss here at the "Wall Street Journal," managing editor Paul Steiger, describes him as somebody who lives for his family, for his wife Mariane, for his unborn child, and for working to cover stories accurately.

So many people have been waiting to hear about his first person account of his days in captivity, a story that we are told would have been published in the "Wall Street Journal" first, and of course, they're still hoping that that is a story that they will be reading sometime soon -- Carol. COSTELLO: I'm sure. Michael Okwu reporting live for us from New York City this morning. Thank you.

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