Hyderabad, Pakistan ? The trial of four Islamic militants accused of the kidnap-slaying of American reporter Daniel Pearl ended Wednesday with prosecutors demanding the death penalty and the defense urging the judge not to succumb to U.S. pressure.

The judge said he would issue his verdict Monday.

Chief suspect Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh leaves the provincial high court in Karachi, Pakistan, under tight security in this March 29, 2002, file photo. The trial of Saeed and three other Islamic militants accused of the kidnap-slaying of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl ended Wednesday.

On the final day of trial, prosecutors told Judge Ali Ashraf Shah that the evidence against British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three co-defendants was overwhelming.

“We have established that they are guilty,” chief prosecutor Raja Quereshi told reporters after the closed-door session. “We are demanding the death penalty for all four accused.”

Defense lawyers claimed the evidence was uncorroborated and that the case was fabricated to ease the Bush administration’s outrage over the slaying of the Wall Street Journal correspondent.

There is no jury, and Shah is the only judge in the trial, which began April 22. His decision is subject to appeal.

Pearl, 38, disappeared in Karachi on Jan. 23 while investigating links between Pakistani militants and Richard C. Reid, who was arrested in December on a flight from Paris to Miami with explosives in his shoes.

A videotape received by U.S. diplomats in Pakistan after the four defendants were in custody confirmed Pearl was dead. Remains of a body believed to be Pearl’s were recovered in May. DNA results are pending.