February 1, 2022 marks 20 years since Jewish-American journalist Daniel Pearl was beheaded by terrorists in Pakistan who had kidnapped him days earlier.

Pearl, 38 at the time of his death, was a Jew from New Jersey who was based in Mumbai, India while working as the South Asia bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda, Pearl moved to Karachi to investigate terrorism.

On January 23, 2002, Pearl was abducted by Islamist terrorists at a hotel in Karachi. His abductors, who called themselves the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty, accused him of being a spy and sent the US a list of demands if they wanted Pearl freed.

These demands were not met, and despite the efforts of many who pled with the kidnappers to free him and US intelligence efforts to find him, Pearl was ultimately executed by beheading.

A video of the execution was released later that same month, under the title of The Slaughter of the Spy-Journalist, the Jew Daniel Pearl.

Read more: JPost