Wrong men convicted of Daniel Pearl murder: probe 20 Jan 2011 The wrong men were convicted of killing US reporter Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and beheaded in Pakistan in 2002, and US officials have stood in the way of the real murderer being brought to justice, according to a new report. Pearl was murdered by the alleged brains behind the September 11, 2001 attacks, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed US terrorists, not by British-Pakistani Omar Sheikh and three other men also convicted for the killing, said the Pearl Project report, released on Thursday.