Pearl Case. Defense lawyer: Video is fake, the leg didn't move.
A show of virtue and compassion in the court
NYTimes
May 15, 2002
Video of Death of Journalist Is Seen in Court in Pakistan
By HOWARD W. FRENCH
SLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 14 — A video showing the beheading of the American journalist Daniel Pearl was shown in a Pakistani court today in the trial of four men accused of the murder.
The four defendants sat unmoved throughout the screening. A defense lawyer dismissed the videotape as "very weak evidence," and cited the absence of movement from the body during the beheading as proof the video was a fake.
"There was absolutely nothing," said the lawyer, Rai Bashir. "Hundreds of such videos can be prepared. When the head was cut off the body the victim did not even move his legs."
According to Reuters, during a briefing after the closed court sessions, which are being held inside a Hyderabad prison, Mr. Bashir told reporters that the video had begun with an image of Mr. Pearl with the words "Palestine, Kashmir and Afghanistan" across the bottom of the screen, and then scenes of children in Palestinian refugee camps. When Mr. Pearl reappears, only the hands of his killer or killers can be seen. The body of Mr. Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter, has never been found. |
