The reporter they left behind
Two years after my husband, Danny Pearl, was kidnapped and murdered, his employers at the Wall Street Journal seem all too willing to forget.
By Mariane Pearl
Feb. 6, 2004 | I made a friend in Pakistan. I nicknamed him "Captain" because of his authority; I couldn't tell if it came naturally to him or was the result of his decades spent in the Pakistani army. But when my husband, Danny Pearl, was kidnapped in Karachi, now two years ago, Captain became the second most important man in my life.
He told me, "I will bring your Danny home." It took another four weeks for us to find out what had happened to my husband.
During this time, Captain got to know Danny. He met me, Danny's wife; he met Danny's friends, his bosses, his writing. He saw Danny's mandolin lying there, in the house that had become the headquarters of our search. Captain even saw Danny's unmatched socks and the language books he was reading to learn Urdu.
"Danny," Captain concluded, "is the best of America." He imagined a gentle, open-minded, energetic guy easy to befriend.
After the first three sleepless nights after Danny had been kidnapped, there was no sense of time in our house and only one reality, at least for Captain. His only aim was to save Danny, because I was there, because I was pregnant, because Danny was innocent, because Captain was a Muslim and a patriot who felt deeply ashamed by those who kept Danny in captivity. When it was learned that Danny had died, it was Captain who had to tell me. Because he said so, I knew it was true, the same way I knew what he said next will be true. It was another pledge: "I will pursue those who did this and bring them to justice even if it is going to take a lifetime, my lifetime."
I only wish others who promised their resolve at that time -- including Danny's employers at the Wall Street Journal -- had kept their promises, too.
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On the first anniversary of Danny's kidnapping, on Jan. 23, 2003, Captain and I sat at a meeting in New York on the top of the world, or so it felt. We were on the top floors of the World Financial Center, right across from ground zero. I took Captain with me to meet Danny's bosses at the Wall Street Journal. He was the behind-the-scenes man, the one who had donated his time and his efforts, the hero.
We wanted to know why the Journal had not sent anyone to court to represent Danny as Pakistan prosecuted the men for his kidnapping and murder, including Omar Said Sheikh, the man who had confessed to being the mastermind of the operation. It was Omar who had lured Danny into a trap, pretending he was the disciple of a source Danny was trying to interview. Ever since I had left Pakistan a year before, I had been trying to persuade the Journal to send someone. It seemed to me inconceivable that Danny, who had been trying to pursue the truth over there, would not be represented. It felt as though we had abandoned him.
"We were advised not to send a white American in a Pakistani court," the Journal chiefs told us.
"Who told you to send a white American?" Captain asked, surprised and slightly amused. Not only had the Journal not sent a white American, but it had sent no one. The trial was held in a tiny, windowless "court," in the prison where the four men were being held; transparency sounded like wishful thinking. I had ended up paying a Pakistani lawyer a very large sum to represent Danny, and the Journal eventually reimbursed me for a small fraction of the total amount.
Captain spoke softly and firmly, the way I had heard him speak so many times back in Karachi when he said something, and I knew he really meant it. "Who says the name of your corporation even needs to be mentioned in court?" he said.
At that time, eventually, the Journal promised to do what Captain suggested: put pressure on President Musharraf to make sure the judicial process would continue. In July 2002, Omar was sentenced to death, and the other three men were given life sentences. The Journal chiefs promised they would find and pay a good lawyer in Pakistan who would represent Danny in proceeding trials, and ensure as much transparency in the process as possible.
Omar's appeals case has been delayed nine times, most of the time for the simple fact that his lawyer doesn't show up in court. It's all far from over. Even behind bars, his influence is thought to remain great and possibly even growing. After Omar was captured, Captain would go and interrogate him, at a time when we still had no clues on Danny's fate, just an awful, painful silence from his captors. Omar only put on a show. He said Danny was alive, then he said he was dead. Then he said he was alive again.