Report Airs New Details in Daniel Pearl's Murder

Nearly nine years to the day since he was kidnapped, new details are coming out about the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. The Pearl Project has worked for three years to answer the questions that surround his death, and an investigative journalism organization is publishing its report today, notes the Journal. Among the revelations: In order to confirm Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s confession of the murder was valid, US officials used vein analysis to compare his hand to a hand shown in a video of the killing.

Mohammed was not originally involved in the plot, but was brought in by al-Qaeda because the mid-level and low-level Pakistani militants that kidnapped Pearl didn't know what to do with him, the report says. It also shows that many questions about Pearl’s final days still remain, thanks to conflicting confessions and testimony by those involved as well as Pakistani investigators, and details the problems officials encountered in bringing suspects to justice. For example, the man who allegedly oversaw the house where Pearl was held was released last year by Pakistani authorities.
(More Daniel Pearl stories.)