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CNN Live At Daybreak

U.S. Would Like to Try Omar Saeed Sheikh

Aired February 26, 2002 - 06:02   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: Well, the White House says there are talks with Pakistan about extraditing Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh in the Daniel Pearl case. Pearl, as you know, was the "Wall Street Journal" reporter kidnapped and killed in Pakistan.

CNN's Susan Candiotti has more on those efforts and their possibilities.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The White House is pressing Pakistan to turn over Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, an alleged ringleader in the kidnapping and murder of journalist Daniel Pearl.

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The United States would very much like to get our hands on Omar Sheikh and the others who are responsible.

CANDIOTTI: It turns out the U.S. was trying to get its hands on him at least a few weeks before Pearl's kidnapping.

Sources say the Justice Department had secretly indicted Omar Sheikh in the 1994 kidnapping of four tourists, including an American in India. On January 9, U.S. Ambassador Wendy Chamberlain pressed Pakistan for Omar Sheikh's arrest. So did the FBI director on January 24, the day after Pearl's kidnapping.

Omar Sheikh was taken into custody in the Pearl case February 5, but Pakistani authorities kept it under wraps for another week. U.S. officials are investigating possible connections between the Pearl case and Pakistan's intelligence service, and whether Omar Sheikh was one of its informants.

Raising this question: Was he protected by elements in that agency?

JIM ROBINSON, FORMER JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: You never know what's going to happen in the system of another country. And I think that's all the more reason why it's important to pursue a consistent policy of extradition of individuals for violating U.S. law.

CANDIOTTI: But others suggest there is a reason why Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf would want to see the case through. STEPHEN COHEN, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: I think he wants to show that the Pakistani judicial system is functioning. The notion of turning somebody over to a foreign government is a bad precedent for him.

CANDIOTTI: There is precedent for extraditing suspects from Pakistan, including Ramzi Yousef, convicted in the first World Trade Center bombing; and Mir Aimal Kansi, convicted in a shooting outside CIA headquarters.

(on camera): The U.S. wants Omar Sheikh and wants him badly. A grand jury is considering charges. Now taking a public side, President Bush insists he is confident Pakistan's president will bring Daniel Pearl's murderers to justice.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And there was a memorial for Pearl yesterday at Stanford University in California where he graduated in 1985. Nearly 600 people attended that service. Pearl was remembered as a bright, funny and driven guy with a gentle soul. He was kidnapped in January in Karachi by Islamic extremists and his death was confirmed last Thursday in a videotape.

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