Omer Sheikh shifted to new prison for 'security' reasons

Islamabad, Aug 3 (PTI) Ahmed Omer Saeed Sheikh, a
terrorist freed by India in exchange for passengers of a
hijacked aircraft and convicted by a Pakistani court for
abducting and killing US journalist Daniel Pearl, has been
moved to a prison in Karachi for security reasons.

Sheikh was shifted to Karachi central prison yesterday
amidst tight security due to the "deteriorating security
situation" in the Hyderabad jail where he was earlier being
held, officials said.

The Hyderabad jail has witnessed several major protests
by prisoners in the recent past, officials said. During one
such incident, prisoners took 24 wardens hostage.

In November last year, Sheikh caused a controversy when
he violated rules by making a phone call to a foreign country
from within the jail. The prison's superintendent and deputy
superintendent were suspended after the matter came to light.

Sheikh had been shifted to Karachi in the past too but
was again brought back to the Hyderabad jail. He was being
held in a separate cell away from other convicts after he was
sentenced by an anti-terrorism court in June 2002. He has
filed an appeal against his conviction that has been pending
with a court in Sindh province for the past seven years.

In December 1999, the Indian government freed Sheikh
along with Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Maulana Masood Azhar and
Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar in exchange for passengers of an Indian
Airlines flight that was hijacked from Kathmandu in Nepal to
Kandahar in Afghanistan. PTI RHL
AM