Daniel Pearl

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Daniel Pearl : biography

10 October 1963 – 2002-02-1

On March 10, 2007, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, an alleged Al Qaeda operative reported to be third in command under Osama bin Laden, claimed responsibility, before his Combatant Status Review Tribunal, for the murder of Daniel Pearl. He claimed to have beheaded him.

In a confession read during his Tribunal hearing, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said "I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew Daniel Pearl, in the city of Karachi, Pakistan. " This confession repeated word for word the phrasing leaked in 2002 from his interrogation in a clandestine CIA interrogation center.

On March 19, 2007, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh’s lawyers cited Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s confession in defense of their client.Unkovic, Alexis. . The Jurist. March 3, 2007. Access date: March 20, 2007 They said they had always acknowledged that their client played a role in Pearl’s murder, but they had always argued that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the actual murderer. They plan for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s confession to play a central role in their appeal of their client’s death sentence.

According to an investigative report published in January 2011 by Georgetown University, the Federal Bureau of Investigation used vein matching to determine that the perpetrator in the video of the killing of Pearl was most likely Mohammed, notably through a "bulging vein" running across his hand. Federal officials had been concerned that the confession obtained though waterboarding would not hold up in court and used this forensic technique to bolster their case.

It was announced on March 19, 2013, that a suspect was captured in connection with the murder. Pakistan’s Inter Services Public Relations Directorate confirmed the arrest by a paramilitary unit known as the Rangers and was in police custody.

Aftermath

A collection of Pearl’s writings () was published posthumously in 2002, demonstrating his "extraordinary skill as a writer" and his "eye for quirky stories—many of which appeared in The Wall Street Journal’s "middle column".Pearl, Daniel. . New York: Free Press, June 2002. ISBN 0-7432-4317-X.

The Daniel Pearl Foundation was formed by Pearl’s family and friends to continue Pearl’s mission, and to address what they consider the root causes of his death, in the spirit, style, and principles that shaped Pearl’s work and character.

 have been held worldwide since 2002, and have promoted over 1,500 concerts in over 60 countries. 

Pearl’s widow, Mariane Pearl, wrote the memoir A Mighty Heart, which tells the full story of Pearl and more about his life.Pearl, Mariane, and Sarah Crichton. . New York: Scribner, 2003. ISBN 0-7432-4442-7. Access date: 2007-03-20. The book was adapted into a film starring Dan Futterman as Daniel Pearl, Angelina Jolie as Mariane Pearl, Irfan Khan, Archie Panjabi, and Will Patton.with appearances by Alyy Khan and Zafar Karachiwala

On September 1, 2003, a book titled was published, written by Bernard-Henri Lévy. The book, which the author characterized as an "investigative novel", stirred controversy for some of its speculative conclusions about the killing, for some of its characterizations of Pakistan, and for the author’s decision to engage in an exercise of fictionalizing Pearl’s thoughts in the final moments of his life. Lévy was criticized for the book.

This book is being adapted into a film directed by Tod Williams and starring Josh Lucas, focusing on the last few days of Daniel Pearl’s life.

HBO Films produced a 79-minute documentary titled The Journalist and the Jihadi: The Murder of Daniel Pearl. It premiered on HBO on October 10, 2006. The documentary chronicles Pearl’s life and death, and features extensive interviews with his immediate family. It is narrated by Christiane Amanpour, and was nominated for two Emmy Awards.

Pearl’s parents edited and published a collection of responses sent to them from around the globe, entitled (Jewish Lights Publishing, 2004). At one point on the video, Pearl said: "My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish," after which Pearl added one obscure detail, that a street in Israel’s Bnei Brak is named after his great grandfather, who was one of the founders of the town.Pearl, Ruth & Judea, eds. . Jewish Lights Pub., January 2004. ISBN 1-58023-183-7. The family has written that it understands this last detail authenticates Daniel’s own voice and demonstrates his willingness to claim his identity. Judea Pearl has written that at first this statement surprised him, but he later understood it to be a reference to the town-building tradition of his family contrasted with the destructive aims of his captors. Judea Pearl then enlarged the idea by inviting responses from artists, government leaders, authors, journalists, scientists, scholars, rabbis, and others. All wrote personal responses to what they thought upon hearing that these were Pearl’s last words. Some responses are one sentence, others several pages.