Pakistani prosecution and defense lawyers on Thursday cross-examined two U.S. FBI agents on key emails and video evidence in the kidnap and murder of U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl. The FBI cooperated closely with Pakistani investigators after Wall Street Journal reporter Pearl was abducted on January 23 while working on stories about Islamic militants.

A gruesome video, shown at the trial on Tuesday, surfaced almost a month after Pearl's kidnap showing he had been murdered.

Abdul Waheed Katpar, top lawyer for Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the British-born Islamic militant who is the prime suspect in the kidnap and murder of Pearl -- said FBI agent John Folgon refused to disclose who handed him the video.

Katpar said the other FBI agent, Ronald Joseph, told the court he had received a laptop containing emails from Pakistani investigators at the U.S. consulate in Karachi.

Chief prosecutor Raja Qureshi said the cross-examinations of the two FBI agents were lengthy but refused to go into the details.

Prosecutors say Sheikh Omar masterminded the kidnap, while the three other accused -- Salman Saqib, Sheikh Adil and Fahad Naseem -- were acting on his instructions.

All the four have pleaded not guilty to charges of terrorism, kidnapping and murder.

The trial is being held in the central jail in Hyderabad and is closed to the press and public, apart from a few close relatives of the accused. Prosecution and defense lawyers have been briefing the press after each day's hearings.

The trial, which began in Karachi on April 22, was originally scheduled to last seven days but has been plagued with adjournments and squabbles between defense and prosecution teams.

The trial resumes on Friday.

PHOTO CAPTION

Pakistani prosecutors produced two witnesses on May 15, 2002 that they said established links between two key emails and four men on trial over the kidnapping and murder of U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl. The emails, sent to media organizations in the days following the Wall Street Journal reporter's disappearance in Karachi on January 23, threatened to kill Pearl and included photographs of him in captivity. (Reuters - Handou