(JTA) – A court in Pakistan has overturned the murder conviction and death sentence of Jewish-American journalist Daniel Pearl’s killer, who is expected to be freed from prison for time served. Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was found guilty on Thursday, April 2, by the Sindh High Court in Karachi of the lesser charge of kidnapping. He was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Sheikh has served 18 years in prison on death row. His attorney said he would be released in a matter of days, Reuters reported, and noted that three others who had been serving life sentences in connection with the case have been acquitted. A Sindh prosecutor said he was considering an appeal of the decision, according to Reuters.

Pearl, a 38-year-old American-Jewish journalist, was the South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal when he was abducted and beheaded in Karachi in 2002 while researching a story about Islamist militants.