Kidnapped reporter Pearl killed

Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl has been killed, the newspaper said today.

"We now believe, based on reports from the U.S. State Department and police officials of the Pakistani province of Sind, that Danny Pearl was killed by his captors," Journal Publisher Peter Kann said in a prepared statement. "We are heartbroken at his death."

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Mr. Pearl was kidnapped in late January and though some of his captors had said he had been killed, until early today the paper continued to express hope that he was still alive.

"Danny was an outstanding colleague, a great reporter, and a dear friend of many at the Journal," Kann's statement continued. "His murder is an act of barbarism that makes a mockery of everything Danny's kidnappers claimed to believe in. They claimed to be Pakistani nationalists, but their actions must surely bring shame to all true Pakistani patriots."

CNN and Fox News both reported confirmation of the death by the CIA and State Department.

An Islamic militant charged in the kidnapping of Pearl told a judge today the journalist was seized because he was "anti-Islam and a Jew," his lawyer said.

In a closed-door deposition, Fahad Naseem, 21 years old, admitted sending e-mails announcing Mr. Pearl's kidnapping on orders of British-born suspect Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, according to defense attorney Khawaja Naveed Ahmed.

Mr. Naseem was one of three people arrested for sending the e-mails announcing Pearl's Jan. 23 abduction, which included photos of him in captivity. Naseem was brought to court with his head covered by a hood and surrounded by three dozen heavily armed policemen.

Several vehicles mounted by machine guns parked outside the court building, and armed police patrolled the rooftops of this congested neighborhood in this southern port city, Pakistan's largest.

Naseem gave his statement to the judge in a closed-door session that excluded his lawyer. The lawyer told reporters what his client had said based on the official transcript, which wasn't made available to reporters. Naseem was ordered jailed pending trial.

Officials cleared out the entire floor where the deposition hearing took place.