The Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered the release of a Pakistani man convicted in the gruesome beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 and later acquitted.

The court also rejected an appeal by Pearl’s family against Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh’s acquittal.

Sheikh has been on death row since the death of Pearl in 2002, when he was sentenced. Sheikh’s counsel said Sheikh was not expected to spend one day in prison.

Attorney Mehmood A. Sheikh, no relation, said the court ordered the release of three other Pakistanis who had been sentenced to life imprisonment for their part in Pearl’s abduction and death.

The Pearl family said in a statement released by their lawyer, “The decision today is a complete travesty of justice and the release of these killers puts journalists everywhere and the people of Pakistan at risk.”