The US State Department has said that it’s “deeply concerned” over the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) decision to release the suspects in the Daniel Pearl murder case.

“We are deeply concerned by the reports of the December 24 ruling of Sindh High Court to release multiple terrorists responsible for the murder of Daniel Pearl. We have been assured that the accused have not been released at this time,” said the State Department in a series of tweets in response to the ruling of the high court.

According to the State Department, the US government has been following this case closely. “We continue to stand with the Pearl family through this extremely difficult process,” it said, adding that it would continue to honour Pearl’s legacy.

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On Thursday, the high court asked the Sindh government to release the suspects, including prime accused Omer Saeed Sheikh, who were convicted by an anti-terrorism court in 2002 for the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. The court had also ordered the government to place their names on the no-fly list.

However, the federal government said that it would challenge the ruling and that the suspects would remain behind the bars till the decision on its review appeal.

The family of the slain US journalist also denounced the high court’s decision. Pearl’s parents said that they refused to believe that the Pakistani government and the Pakistani people will “let such a travesty of justice tarnish the image and legacy” of Pakistan.

Pearl was working on a story about religious extremists in Pakistan in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks, when he was kidnapped in Karachi.