religion birth_place ethnicity name birth_date article_title education citizenship
islam london , united kingdom british pakistani ahmed omar saeed sheikh 23 december 1973 ahmed omar saeed sheikh
 london -rrb- -lrb- took driving lessons in bosnia and herzegovina -rrb- school of economics -lrb- expelled after first year british
ahmed omar saeed sheikh

ahmed omar saeed sheikh -lrb- -rrb- -lrb- sometimes known as `` umar sheikh '' , `` sheikh omar '' , `` sheik syed '' , or by the alias `` mustafa muhammad ahmad '' -rrb- -lrb- born december 23 , 1973 -rrb- is a british terrorist of pakistani descent with links to various islamist militant organisations , including jaish-e-mohammed , al-qaeda , harkat-ul-mujahideen and the taliban .
he was arrested and served time in prison for the 1994 kidnappings of western tourists in india , an act which he acknowledges .
he was released from captivity in 1999 and provided safe passage into afghanistan with the support of taliban in exchange for passengers aboard hijacked indian airlines flight 814 .
he is most well known for his role in the 2002 kidnapping and murder of `` wall street journal '' reporter daniel pearl .
sheikh omar saeed was arrested by pakistani police on february 12 , 2002 , in lahore , in connection with the pearl kidnapping , and was sentenced to death on july 15 , 2002 for killing pearl .
his judicial appeal has not yet been heard .
the delay has been ascribed to his purported links with mi6 .
former pakistani president pervez musharraf , in his book `` in the line of fire '' , stated that sheikh was originally recruited by british intelligence agency , mi6 , while studying at the london school of economics .
he alleges omar sheikh was sent to the balkans by mi6 to engage in jihadi operations .
musharraf later went on to state , `` at some point , he probably became a rogue or double agent '' .
his complicity in the murder and the reasons behind it are in dispute .
at his initial court appearance , he stated , `` i do n't want to defend this case .
i did this ... right or wrong , i had my reasons .
i think that our country should n't be catering to america 's needs '' , but he subsequently appealed his conviction and is awaiting further progress while in prison .
sheikh 's lawyer has stated he will base his client 's appeal on the admission of khalid sheikh mohammed , made public in 2007 , that he is the killer of daniel pearl .
he is currently being held in hyderabad central jail in pakistan .
in february 2014 , the times of india reported that sheikh had attempted suicide but had been discovered in time by prison guards and was in a stable condition .
the newspaper quoted a senior prison official as saying : `` he is kept in a separate cell and section of the jail as he is no ordinary criminal .
-lsb- ... -rsb- we have filed a case against him for attempted suicide and he can face additional punishment now '' .
a second prison official said : `` he is a very intelligent , strong and sharp criminal with dangerous designs .
so his attempt to commit suicide comes as a surprise '' .
