Islamist militant jailed in Pakistan for decapitating US journalist Daniel Pearl is ordered to remain in prison for three months - days after his death penalty was overturned

A Pakistani provincial government Friday ordered a British Pakistani man whose conviction in the kidnapping and killing of a US journalist was overturned to remain in custody for three months.

The Superintendent of Karachi's Central Prison, Hasan Sehtoo, said he received an order from the Sindh provincial government saying Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh's release would threaten public safety. 

The commuting of Saeed's sentence to a seven-year term meant that he was set to walk free as he has already served 18 years locked up.

The government ordered him detained as it appeals to the Pakistan Supreme Court to have his murder conviction reinstated.

Saeed was found guilty of murder and kidnapping in the 2002 death of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and sentenced to death.

Pearl disappeared 23 January, 2002 in Karachi while researching links between Pakistani militants and Richard C. Reid, who became known as the 'shoe bomber' after he was arrested on a flight from Paris to Miami with explosives in his shoes. 

Prosecutors said Saeed lured Pearl into a trap by promising to arrange an interview with an Islamic cleric who police believed was not involved in the conspiracy. 

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

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