Expressing outrage at Pakistan Supreme Court's decision to affirm the acquittal of Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh in the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl, Washington has said it was prepared to prosecute him in the US.

Both President Joe Biden's Spokesperson Jan Psaki and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday made the suggestion to have the British-born terrorist tried in the US if Pakistan cannot hold him accountable.

Psaki said at her daily briefing in Washington, “We call on the Pakistani government to expeditiously review its legal options, including allowing the United States to prosecute Sheikh for the brutal murder of an American citizen and journalist.”

Blinken said in a statement, “We are also prepared to prosecute Sheikh in the United States for his horrific crimes against an American citizen. We are committed to securing justice for Daniel Pearl’s family and holding terrorists accountable."

Psaki said the US is outraged by the court's decision to exonerate him and other suspects in the killing of The Wall Street Journal's South Asia bureau chief and called it “an affront to terrorism victims everywhere, including in Pakistan.”

She said that the US recognised that the Pakistani government had tried to hold Saeed accountable and was holding him under national security laws.

Blinken said that the US is deeply concerned about any possible action to release him after the Supreme Court acquitted him.

He said that Saeed was charged in a US court in 2002 with hostage-taking in connection with the murder of Pearl that year and the kidnapping of an American tourist, Bela Nuss, in India in 1994, suggesting he could be tried in that case.

Pakistani governments have been ambivalent about prosecuting the British-born Saeed, considered a hero by some in Pakistan, for the murder of Pearl, whose throat was slit by the terrorists. The terrorists recorded their crime and distributed it on the internet.

Under international pressure Pakistan had him tried in a court in the Sindh province and he was sentenced to death. Last year the Sindh High Court, however, acquitted him and the three others charged in the murder of Pearl.

The Supreme court upheld the decision on Thursday.