The lawyer for Ahmad Omar Sayeed Sheikh asked a Pakistani provincial court today to overturn his client’s conviction and death sentence in the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

The Pakistani government announced the sentence on Monday. Sayeed Sheikh is a leading Islamic fundamentalist with reported ties to groups such as the Jaish I Muhammad, al Qaeda and the Taliban.

His appeal claims the verdict was based on "fake, false and provenly planted evidence."

Today we’re going to look at the history of the Pakistani intelligence service and its links to Sayeed Sheikh and other Islamic fundamentalist groups.

In the current issue of CovertAction Quarterly, Dr. Hamid Hussein writes, "Omar started to talk about his ISI links when the United States demanded his extradition . . . Most likely, he will be sentenced to death in a Pakistani court and the sentence will be quickly carried out."

Guest:

• Dr Hamid Hussain, author of a piece, "Lengthening Shadows: The Intelligence Agencies of Pakistan" in the CovertAction Quarterly this summer.

Related link:

• CovertAction Quarterly