26 February 2002

U.S. Wants to Bring Suspect in Pearl Case to the U.S.

White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer confirmed February 26 that the United States is actively engaged in trying to bring Omar Sheikh, who is being held in Pakistan as a primary suspect in the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl, to the United States for legal action.

"Ambassador Chamberlin has met again with President Musharraf and, made our point clear again about the United States' desire to have Omar Sheikh sent to the United States," he reported at the regular White House briefing.

Fleischer said he anticipated "continued conversations for some period of time now about this" as the Pakistani legal process moves forward.

Following is an excerpt from Fleischer's February 26 briefing containing his comments about the extradition issue:

Question: Do you have an update on the discussions by the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan on the extradition of the main suspect in the Pearl case?

Mr. Fleischer: Yes. Ambassador Chamberlin has met again with President Musharraf and, you know, made our point clear again about the United States' desire to have Omar Sheikh sent to the United States. It is being worked through the Pakistani process. The Pakistanis, as a sovereign nation, have thoughts too about how to bring justice to Omar Sheikh, and that's where the matter stands. So there are continued conversations, and I anticipate there will be continued conversations for some period of time now about this...

Question: Ari, coming back to the Pearl situation, you said that this is now being worked out in the Pakistani legal process. Does that mean that eventually the United States will have a chance to try Saeed? And if not, how much pressure is the U.S. willing to put on Pakistan, given his internal political concerns?

Mr. Fleischer: Not, it means the process is ongoing. And as you can imagine, this is -- Pakistan is a sovereign state. They have their own laws. A crime, a murder was committed in their country and they have their own ways and laws of dealing with it. It's not atypical at a time like that, when another nation makes a request for that request to be considered, and it takes time.

Yesterday I discussed that if there had been, God forbid -- reverse the situation, a murder in the United States where an American citizen was held for the murder of a foreign visitor to the United States, I don't think it would surprise anybody if the United States said, "We have our courts, we have our laws, we have our ways of dealing with this," as we worked cooperatively with any other nation that was making a request.

And that's the process, and it's not something that necessarily lends itself to instant resolution. And the United States will continue to make its case to Pakistan.

Pakistan has received the case well. But it is part of the process there, a sovereign government, and we'll continue to talk.