According to a defenceattorney Khawaja Naveed, the two officers said Omar Sheikh had said he had masterminded Mr Pearl's abduction, that he would not defend himself and that Mr Pearl was dead.
Defenceattorney Ulrich Sieber said Mr Somm, who was head of CompuServe's German subsidiary, had no technical means of blocking such sites, but still managed to get the US parent company to do so several times.