Kidnapped Reporter Killed on Tape

Feb. 22, 2002 -- As U.S. and Pakistani officials vowed to bring Daniel Pearl's killers to justice, the wife of the kidnapped U.S. journalist said today that his captors did not defeat her husband or his mission to seek the truth.

Mariane Pearl, seven months pregnant with the couple's first child, said her hope "is that I will be able to tell our son that his father carried the flag to end terrorism, raising an unprecedented demand among people from all countries not for revenge but for the values we all share: love, compassion, friendship and citizenship far transcending the so-called clash of civilizations."

Mrs. Pearl, who remained in Pakistan throughout his abduction, was told of her husband's death early Thursday. Since her husband was kidnapped nearly one month ago, Mrs. Pearl, a freelance journalist, had pleaded for his life and offered to take his place.

On Thursday, Pakistani and U.S. officials confirmed the death of Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter, after watching a gruesome videotape that shows him being killed with a knife.

Details emerged today about the videotape, which was edited and undated and contains images only of Pearl, not his captors. Pearl is seen against a black background and at times there are what appear to be projected images of women and children from Afghanistan, Palestine, and Kashmir.

"My name is Daniel Pearl. I'm Jewish American," Pearl said on the tape, which law enforcement officials described to ABCNEWS. Pearl was apparently made to repeat some of the kidnappers' demands and to criticize U.S. government policies, including "the continued military presence in Afghanistan" and "unconditional support given to the state of Israel."

The tape also shows Pearl saying things about his own background, including "My father is Jewish. My mother is Jewish. I am Jewish."

Pearl is then executed, and as he is killed the group's name and demands scrawls across the screen. A message from the kidnappers reads: "We assume Americans they shall never be safe on the Muslim land of Pakistan and if our demands are not met this scene shall be repeated again and again."

Pearl's body has not yet been found.

Today, Mariane Pearl said in her statement: "From this act of barbarism, terrorists expect all of us to bow our heads and retreat as victims forever threatened by their ruthlessness. What terrorists forget is that they may seize the life of an innocent man or the lives of many innocent people as they did on Sept. 11, but they cannot claim the spirit or faith of individual human beings."

Dep. Secretary of State Richard Armitage spoke this morning with the widow, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

"He expressed our condolences and our deepest sympathy for her loss. He expressed the sympathy and condolences both to her and to the child that they're expecting. He said we will provide any and every possible assistance to her, and he stated very clearly to her, as I have to you, the commitment to bring to justice the people who are responsible for this horrible action," Boucher said.

Musharraf Vows Justice

Top government officials in both the United States and Pakistan expressed their outrage over Pearl's killing and vowed to bring his captors to justice.

Today, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf appeared on national television to say Pearl's killers were devoid of humanity, that they had shamed their country and their religion, and that they would be dealt with severely. Musharraf said "this incident has enhanced our resolve and in the days to come, I will deal with all kinds of terrorism with an iron hand."

Four suspects are already in custody in connection with the kidnapping, but a massive manhunt is underway for four other suspects, Pakistan's Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider told reporters. Once they are arrested, "the whole net will be broken," he said.

The four in custody are scheduled to appear before a Karachi court on Monday. In addition to abduction charges, they are now likely to face charges for their role in his murder.

The suspects include British-born Islamic militant Sheikh Omar Saeed and three other men accused of sending e-mails to the media announcing the kidnapping.

On Thursday, President Bush interrupted his state visit to Beijing to offer condolences to the Pearl family — and a warning to would-be terrorists. "Those who would threaten Americans, those who would engage in criminal, barbaric acts need to know that these crimes only hurt their cause and only deepen the resolve of the United States of America to rid the world of these agents of terror," Bush said. "May God bless Daniel Pearl."

‘Shocked and Saddened’

In a statement on Thursday from their California home, Pearl's family said they were "shocked and saddened" by his death.

"Up until a few hours ago we were confident that Danny would return safely, for we believed no human being would be capable of harming such a gentle soul," they said.

"We now believe, based on reports from the U.S. State Department and police officials of the Pakistani province of Sindh, that Danny Pearl was killed by his captors," Peter R. Kann, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, and Paul E. Steiger, managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, said in a statement on Thursday.

"We are heartbroken at his death," they said.

Pearl had been the Journal's South Asia bureau chief.

The United States does not have an extradition treaty with Pakistan, but State Department sources told ABCNEWS they were outraged by Pearl's death, and that they would work with the Pakistani government to bring those responsible to justice.

Abducted While Reporting on Shoe-Bomb Case

Authorities in surrounding Sindh province said they obtained the tape on Thursday, but it is not clear when the tape was made. The tape was initially in the possession of two men, who approached a Pakistani journalist.

The two men were put under surveillance, and an FBI agent posed as a journalist to get a hold of the tape and the men, sources said.

Pearl, 38, was abducted on Jan. 23 en route to a meeting in Karachi with Islamic extremists.

He was working on a story on Richard Reid, a Briton who was arrested on a Paris-to-Miami flight in December after he allegedly tried to ignite explosives hidden in his sneakers.

It is believed Pearl was seeking an interview with Mubarak Ali Shah Gilani, the leader of the radical Islamic group Jamaat al-Fuqra, with whom Reid may have been connected.

Four days later, a previously unknown group calling itself the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty sent an e-mail to Pakistani and international media showing Pearl in captivity. One of the photos showed Pearl with a gun pointed to his head.

In its e-mail, the group demanded that the United States repatriate Pakistanis captured in Afghanistan who are being held at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

A second e-mail sent Jan. 30 said the reporter would be killed in 24 hours. The message also accused Pearl of being a spy for the Israeli intelligence service, the Mossad, an allegation the Journal denied. That was the last known message from his captors.

ABCNEWS' Martha Raddatz, Rebecca Cooper, Pierre Thomas, Beverly Lumpkin, Richard Gizbert, and the I-Team contributed to this report.