Pakistan files appeal against acquittal of suspects behind Daniel Pearl's beheading
Three petitions said lodged with Pakistani Supreme Court, seeking death penalty for key perpetrator
Pakistan filed an appeal on Friday against the acquittal of four Islamists suspected of kidnapping and beheading Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
Reuters cited a local prosecutor as saying that three petitions had been filed, urging the court to reconsider the acquittal and authorize death penalty for the key suspect -- Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh.
Sheikh and his alleged co-conspirators are accused of kidnapping Pearl in 2002 as he was conducting research on Islamist militants in the Pakistani city of Karachi.
A gruesome video of his beheading emerged soon after the journalist went missing.
On Thursday, the Pakistani Supreme Court acquitted Sheikh and confirmed last year's acquittal of his three suspected accomplices.
Also last year, Sheikh's death sentence was changed to a life behind bars.
The US condemned Thursday's ruling as “an affront to terrorism victims everywhere," as stated by State Secretary Antony Blinken.
Washington also expressed willingness to prosecute the chief suspect on its own soil.