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Wall Street Journal Receives News of Abducted Journalist VOA News 28 Jan 2002 06:42 UTC 
A U.S. newspaper says a group claiming to have seized one of its reporters in Pakistan is demanding better treatment for Taleban and al-Qaida fighters captured in Afghanistan and held by the United States.
The Wall Street Journal says it has received an electronic letter from a group calling itself the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty.
The e-mail says the American journalist is being held in what are called inhuman conditions similar to those it says the U.S. military affords al-Qaida and Taleban fighters at its naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It says he will receive better treatment only if conditions for U.S.-held detainees improve and Pakistani nationals are sent home.
The e-mail also claims Mr. Pearl is a spy for the Central Intelligence Agency and includes a photograph, showing him with a gun pointed to his head. Both the newspaper and the CIA have denied that the journalist worked for the agency.
The Wall Street Journal says Mr. Pearl has no connection with the U.S. government. The Associated Press quotes a C-- spokeswoman as saying the reporter does not and never has worked for the agency.
The 38-year-old Mr. Pearl is said to have been working on a story about Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network when he disappeared.
Pakistani authorities searching for Mr. Pearl say he disappeared after meeting with a representative of an Islamic militant group (Harkat ul-Mujahedeen) that the U.S. government has declared a terrorist organization.
Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.
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