The US State Department has hailed the Sindh government plan to challenge the verdict in Daniel Pearl kidnapping and murder case.

Four men, including a British-born militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, were acquitted in the American journalist murder in 2002. The prosecutors announced the decision to file an appeal in the Supreme Court against the verdict.

US diplomat for South Asia Alice Wells welcomed the appeal decision. “Those responsible for Daniel’s heinous kidnapping and murder must face the full measure of justice,” Wells tweeted and termed the verdict “an affront to victims of terrorism everywhere”.

Pearl, 38, was the South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal when he was abducted in Karachi in January 2002 while researching a story about militants.