A Pakistani-British man who was on death row for 18 years before his acquittal in the 2002 beheading of Jewish-American journalist Daniel Pearl was transferred Monday to a government safe house for security reasons, police said, according to The Associated Press.
Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh was handed over to the Punjab Counter-Terrorism department amid tight security, a senior police officer Suhail Sukhera told the news agency.
Sheikh was moved to his home city of Lahore from the southern port city of Karachi. Sukhera provided no further details and only said Sheikh was being kept at a well-guarded place.
Sheikh, along with two other men, was acquitted last year of murdering Pearl but had been held while Pearl’s family appealed.
In April last year, a high court in Sindh province, where Karachi is located, overturned the convictions of three of the four men and reduced Sheikh's sentence to seven years in prison, meaning he was eligible for release on time served.
In December, the court overturned a government detention order that Sheikh should remain in custody.
Sheikh has been in custody despite his acquittal under a special law allowing the government to detain people deemed a security risk.