The Sindh government has started considering moving the Supreme Court against the Sindh High Court’s decision on the Daniel Pearl kidnapping and murder case, 24NewsHD TV channel reported.

According to sources, an appeal would be submitted before the apex court by tomorrow (Saturday) after the Prosecution Department completes a review of the verdict.

They also said that the Home Department had stopped the release of the four accused on police’s request.

Pearl – an American journalist and the South Asian bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal – was kidnapped on January 23, 2002, in Karachi and later beheaded when the abductors' demands were not met. He was investigating a story on religious extremists.

The United States has already criticised the overturning of a death sentence handed down to Omer Saeed Sheikh, calling the decision an "affront."

“The overturning of the convictions for Daniel Pearl's murder is an affront to victims of terrorism everywhere," said Alice Wells, the top US diplomat for South Asia.

She welcomed indications that Pakistani prosecutors would appeal the decision on British-born militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh.

"Those responsible for Daniel's heinous kidnapping and murder must face the full measure of justice," Wells wrote on Twitter.

Earlier on Thursday, the Sindh High Court overturned the death penalty awarded to Sheikh, turning it to seven-year imprisonment. He is the main accused in the American journalist’s kidnapping and murder case.

In its ruling on the accused’s appeals after 18 years, the court also acquitted three other accused.

The four accused were convicted and sentenced by an anti-terrorism court in 2002.

A two-member bench, headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha, had reserved the judgement last month on the appeals of the four accused against their conviction.

Besides Sheikh who is a British national, his three accomplices Fahad Naseem, Syed Salman Saqib and Sheikh Mohammad Adil were awarded life imprisonment and a fine of Rs500,000 each.

Sheikh and others had moved the SHC in 2002 after their conviction. Meanwhile, the anti-terrorism court had declared six others as proclaimed offenders.