HYDERABAD, Pakistan -- British-born militant Sheikh Omar denied in court Friday charges of kidnapping and murdering U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl, lawyers told AFP.

"He denied all charges against him," Chief Prosecutor Raja Qureshi told journalists after defense lawyers opened their case for four men accused of the abduction and grisly killing.

Omar, 28, the chief accused, also disowned a statement he made in Karachi in February, while Pearl was still missing, that the ***Wall Street Journal*** correspondent was already dead.

"That was not a confessional statement, it was not a statement under oath, and any statement without oath even before a judge is not admissible and that should be discarded," Qureshi quoted Omar as telling the closed court in a jail here, 160 kilometers (100 miles) east of Karachi, AFP reported.

However Qureshi added that Omar "Did not basically deny that he had made that statement." Omar answered 28 questions from the judge and then submitted a six-page written statement to the court.

"The posture of his entire statement was of denial and that he had not been involved in the commissioning of the crime," Qureshi said.

Omar refused to make any statement under oath and nominated only two witnesses in his defense, his father Ahmed Saeed Sheikh and his uncle Rauf Sheikh, who is also a district judge.

Defense lawyer Rai Bashir said Omar told the court the charges against him were "baseless" as he denied he was in Karachi when Pearl was abducted.

"This kidnapping allegation was totally wrong and baseless as I was not in Karachi on that day and I have two witnesses for establishing my alibi," Bashir quoted Omar as saying.

Omar also rejected the video of Pearl's slaying, which has been shown to the court by the prosecution, as "inadmissible evidence...

and it cannot be used against me," Bashir said.

The gruesome tape was delivered to the U.S. Consulate in Karachi about a month after Pearl's disappearance.

The three other men on trial are alleged to have sent emails to media organizations containing photos of Pearl and threatening to kill him in the weeks after his disappearance.

They are scheduled to record their statements in court on Saturday.

All four face charges of murder, kidnapping and terrorist activities and could be executed if convicted.

Rewards have been offered for information leading to the arrest of another seven suspects still at large.

The trial is being held in a jail here, 160 kilometers (100 miles, east of Karachi, for security reasons.

Qureshi would record statements from the four accused on Friday.

Pearl was investigating Islamic militants when he went missing from the violent port city on January 23.