Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh will now have jail sentence reduced to seven years

Sheikh, of UK, found guilty of abduction and murder of Daniel Pearl, in 2002

Journalist Pearl, 38, disappeared in Karachi on January 23 of the same year

'Pearl Project' suggests that the wrong people convicted for Pearl's beheading

A Pakistani court has overturned the death sentence of a British-born Islamist militant convicted of beheading a US journalist in 2002.

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, of Wanstead, in east London, UK, was found guilty of the abduction and murder of south Asia bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal, Daniel Pearl, in 2002.

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Pearl, 38, disappeared in Karachi, the capital of Pakistan, on January 23 of the same year.

Sheikh was expected to be released having served 18 years - though that court ruling had not yet passed - but instead Sheikh's sentence was reduced to seven years and his death sentence overturned by the Sindh High Court.

The Sindh chief prosecutor said he will lodge an appeal to the Supreme Court. Sheikh is expected to remain in jail pending the appeal.

Daniel Pearl, 38, was abducted, his throat cut and then he was beheaded, before the footage was sent to the American Embassy

This 2002 photo shows a bound Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl held in captivity before his brutal execution

'The murder charges were not proven, so he has been given seven years for the kidnapping,' according to defense lawyer Khawja Naveed.

Sheikh's defense lawyers contend that the prosecution failed to prove their case 'beyond doubt,' according to a BBC report.

Sheikh was convicted for Pearl's murder in 2002 with three other men, who are from Pakistan.

They are Sheikh Adil, 35, Fahad Naseem, 23, and Salman Saquib, 25 - all given life.

Sheikh, however, received a death sentence after being found the ringleader.

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In addition to Sheikh's overturned death sentence and jail time reduction, the three other men were also acquitted and released, according to BBC News. The defendants were collectively fined $32,000.

Before being beheaded, Pearl was forced to say: 'I am a Jew.'

Video footage of his murder was subsequently sent to the American Embassy.

Pearl had been researching a story about Islamist militants at the time, after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US.

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh arriving at court in Karachi in Pakistan in 2002 under police guard

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh being led away from the Karachi court, in 2002, in handcuffs

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh seen here emerging from an armed car with two other suspects, all covered and bound for court, in February 2002

However, in January of 2011, a report published by the 'Pearl Project' of Georgetown University, following an investigation of Pearl's killing, suggested the wrong people had been convicted.

It had been led by Asra Nomani, a friend and former Wall Street Journal colleague of Pearl's.

Nomani had been helped in the investigation by a Georgetown University professor.

Dr Judea Pearl, father of Daniel Pearl, speaking about his son in Miami Beach, Florida, in 2007

Angelina Jolie and Dan Futterman starring in A Mighty Heart, a 2007 film about Pearl's kidnapping

The investigation made claims Pearl had been killed by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is alleged to have orchestrated the September 11 attacks in 2001, and not Sheikh.

Though there are questions as to the extent of Sheikh's direct involvement in Pearl's killing, he is said to have run a kidnapping gang targeting Westerners and handing them off to Mohammed, according to Security Journalist Duncan Gardham.

Sheikh had also been an operative for a militant group backed by the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency and Pearl had been writing stories about the ISI's links to militants.

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A film called A Mighty Heart was made in 2007 about Pearl's kidnapping. It starred Angelina Jolie as Pearl's French wife, Mariane, who was pregnant at the time.

Mohammed, also known as KSM, is currently being held in Guantanamo Bay, a US military prison in Cuba, following his arrest in Pakistan in 2003.

An American psychologist who talked to Mohammed said he had confessed to beheading Pearl, according to AFP.

Mohammed is due to be tried in connection to 9/11 with four others at a military court in Guantanamo in January 2021.

They are charged with war crimes like terrorism and the murder of nearly 3,000 people.

They will be the first to go on trial, nearly 20 years after the attacks on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

If found guilty they face the death penalty.

This 2003 photo shows Khalid Sheikh Mohammed shortly after his capture during a raid in Pakistan