The trial in Pakistan of a Briton accused of planning the abduction and murder of Daniel Pearl is to be moved from Karachi over fears of an attack on the court.
Mr Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (28) from Wanstead, east London, and three alleged accomplices face execution if convicted of kidnapping, murder and terrorism.
The Sindh provincial high court has also decided a new judge, Mr Ali Ashraf Shah, will replace Judge Abdul Ghafoor Memon. The chief prosecutor accused Judge Memon of not being able to stop the defendants making threatening gestures.
The trial will resume on Friday in a makeshift courtroom in Hyderabad jail, officials said. Hyderabad is 75 miles east of Karachi.
Chief Prosecutor Raja Quereshi said he told the high court the government had received reports that Mr Saeed's supporters were planning to blow up the Karachi jail in an effort to free him and his three co-defendants.
He said Mr Saeed and the others had threatened him during the trial and that Judge Memon had failed to control them.
Mr Khawaja Naveed said he and the other defence lawyers had no objection to moving the trial, but they said they thought Judge Memon had been fair. "The prosecution were unhappy because he was not listening to them," he said.
The trial of the four accused in the January 23rd kidnapping and subsequent murder of the Wall Street Journalreporter began on April 22nd.
PA
