A Pakistani court has held another pre-trial hearing in the case of four men charged in the kidnapping and murder of American reporter Daniel Pearl. Soon after the court began the proceedings Friday in the southern city of Karachi, defense lawyers sought more information on key prosecution evidence. 

The judge granted the request, and also issued formal arrest warrants for seven other alleged co-conspirators who, police say, remain at large. The court is due to meet again next Friday, April 12. 

Only close relatives of the accused were permitted inside the makeshift court room in Karachi's historic Central Jail. The area was under tight security and journalists were not allowed inside. 

Defendants include the alleged mastermind of the kidnapping plot, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a British-born Islamic militant also known as Sheikh Omar. 

All are being tried under Pakistan's anti-terrorism law. If convicted, they could receive the death penalty. 

Mr. Pearl, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, disappeared in Karachi in January while working on a story on Islamic militants. His murder was confirmed almost a month later, when a video tape showing the reporter being brutally killed surfaced in the Pakistani city. Mr. Pearl's body has not been found. 

The United States also has indicted Sheikh Omar for kidnapping an American tourist in India in 1994, and has requested his extradition. Pakistan says it will consider the request after first completing its own judicial proceedings. 

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