PAKISTAN: A Pakistani court has begun hearing the trial of a British-born Islamic militant, Mr Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, and three other men for the murder of a US reporter, Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped in Karachi in January.
The four men have pleaded not guilty to charges of terrorism, kidnapping and murder. The trial is being conducted behind closed doors in Karachi's Central Jail by a special anti-terrorism court.
The men face the death penalty in a trial supposed to be completed in seven days and criticised by domestic and international human rights groups, which say such courts are predisposed to convict.
The defence lawyer, Mr Khawaja Naveed, said Mr Sheikh Omar, the well-educated son of a clothes merchant from Wanstead in north-east London, refused to recognise the court's authority. "I don't believe in this court and my trial should be conducted in a Sharia \ court," Mr Naveed quoted him as telling the court, as he had at a previous hearing.
Pearl, the South Asia bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal, disappeared while pursuing a story on Islamic militants and investigating possible links between the alleged shoe-bomber Mr Richard Reid and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. Almost a month later, a gruesome video surfaced showing Pearl had been murdered. It was a huge embarrassment to the Pakistani government as it tried to establish itself as a key partner in the US-led war on terror.
Mr Naveed said a taxi-driver, Mr Nasir Abbas, identified Mr Sheikh Omar as the man who met Pearl at the restaurant where the American journalist was last seen.
"He was the taxi-driver who dropped Daniel Pearl in front of the Village restaurant from where Pearl was kidnapped," he said at the end of the day's session. "The taxi driver has identified Mr Sheikh Omar as the person who received Daniel Pearl."
Police say two alleged accomplices, Mr Salman Saquib and Mr Fahad Naseem, confessed to their role in the kidnap, although a defence lawyer said Mr Saquib had complained he had been tortured in police custody.
The chief prosecutor, Mr Raja Qureshi, said prosecutors had summoned US FBI staff who worked on the Pearl case to give evidence, and they were expected in Pakistan "within a week".
Meanwhile, a new undated video has been broadcast in which Osama bin Laden is shown preaching to his audience for almost an hour, urging all Muslims to join him in holy war.
The video, which was seen in the west for the first time Monday, was said to have been supplied by a Kabul resident who said he found it in a house previously used by Taliban or al-Qaeda forces.
US officials believe the video was probably filmed in 2001 and that it is an attempt by his followers to keep his message alive while his fate remains unknown. At times he can be seen to gesture with his left hand prompting reports of illness or injury.
In London, an Algerian accused of plotting with bin Laden to blow up Los Angeles International Airport over the millennium appeared in court yesterday to fight against his extradition to the US.
Mr Amar Makhlulif, also known as Abu Doha and "The Doctor", was arrested in February last year at Heathrow airport while trying to board an aircraft to Saudi Arabia. The US alleges he oversaw a group of Algerian terrorists plotting to bomb the airport before the millennium celebrations and that he met bin Laden to co-ordinate efforts.