What Really Happened to Daniel Pearl?

This afternoon at the National Press Club, the Center for Public Integrity officially released their report, nine years in the making, of what really happened to WSJ reporter Daniel Pearl, kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan in 2002.

CPI worked on The Pearl Project in conjunction with former WSJ reporter and Pearl’s colleague Asra Nomani (pictured), Georgetown University Journalism Director Barbara Feinman Todd, and more than 30 students. The project was funded by the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation.

Following an introduction from CPI director Bill Buzenberg, a pretty sweet three-course lunch was served: an asparagus and mushroom salad, chicken breast with couscous and vegetables, and a fruit tart.

After lunch, Todd and Nomani got down to business: They detailed their findings, identified the men involved in but never convicted of Pearl’s murder, and revealed that the self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had actually carried out the murder.

Angelina Jolie never showed as was rumored (or did in disguise). Others attended: Bill Kovach, former Washington bureau chief for the New York Times and now the Chairman of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ Advisory Committee, Connie Lawn, White House correspondent for USA Radio Network, and Mike Freedman, executive producer of the Kalb Report.

The Pearl Project’s full report, “The Truth Left Behind,”can be read here.

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