The execution of a British National from Leeds, West Yorkshire, who has been serving a sentence for the last 18 years in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, has been postponed yet again, for the fourth time.
President of Pakistan, General Parvez Musharraf granted him a two month stay on capital punishment. This time it was deferred to avoid the execution from coinciding with the first official visit of Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall from October 29 to November 3 to Pakistan. The accused was supposed to face execution on November 1.
A former Territorial Army Officer, Mirza Tahir Hussain, 36 has been in jail for the last 18 years. He was charged with the murder of a taxi driver, when at 18 years of age he was visiting some of his relatives in Pakistan. Three days after arriving in Pakistan in December 1988, he reached Rawalpindi after a train journey from Karachi.
In order to reach his ancestral village he was supposed to undertake the rest of the journey by taxi. He later accepted to accidentally killing the taxi driver after the latter tried to sexually assault him and pulled a gun at him. Hussain was earlier acquitted by Lahore High court but his case was transferred to the Pakistan's religious court which gave him a death sentence instead. Since then his execution has been delayed four times.
In the parallel Islamic legal system the victim's family reserves a right to pardon the guilty by accepting “blood money”. The family of the deceased taxi driver Jamshed Khan had accepted a sum of 100,000 pounds but went back on their word later.
Prince of Wales has appealed for mercy to Pakistani president in a letter. Prime Tony Blair has also vociferously asked for pardon. He has also warned against execution. Prime Minister's appeal has the support of the European Parliament.
Hussain's brother, Amjad Hussain, also appealed for forgiveness for his brother. He expressed his gratitude for the intervention of Prince of Wales in this matter. The viewpoint that the constant delay in execution amounted to torture and murder was the main foundation of his appeal for pardon.
