Daniel Pearl suspect released - A man suspected to be involved in the kidnapping and subsequent murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl has been released due to lack of evidence tying him to the gruesome incident.

The 50-years-old Daniel Pearl suspect released, Qari Hashim, who has been in jail since 2005, was exonerated by a Pakistani Anti-Terrorist Court on Friday. 

Daniel Pearl, a Jewish-American Journalist from California was kidnapped in downtown Karachi, Pakistan. The journalist was apparently serving as the South Asia Bureau Chief of The Wall Street Journal based in Mumbai, India.

Reports indicate the Pearl visited the South-eastern Pakistani city to conduct an investigation into a supposed connection between Richard Reid, the English "shoe bomber", and Al-Qaeda.

Daniel Pearl was abducted in 2002, while investigating the links between Reid, who tried to detonate explosives stashed in his shoe aboard a plane heading for Miami via Paris.

A video showing the murder of Daniel Pearl was subsequently released. The 3 minutes and 36 seconds clip features gruesome images of Daniel Pearl being beheaded.

Pakistani authorities found a decollated body in May 2002. DNA tests later confirmed that the body, which was buried in a shallow grave, was that of Daniel Pearl.

The Daniel Pearl suspect release was commissioned by Justice Abdul Ghafoor Memon after considering the case for four. Experts say it amounts to an acquittal. All the other suspects in the kidnapping and execution of Daniel Pearl have been sentenced.

The Daniel Pearl suspect release comes after Mohammad Omar Saeed Sheikh, a British citizen of Pakistani ancestry, confessed to personally decapitating the victim. He has been sentenced to death by hanging. Three others, suspected of being involved in the kidnap and murder, were sentenced to serve life imprisonment in the same year.