Musharraf rejects execution plea
10.59, Sun Oct 1 2006
The family of a British man due to be executed in Pakistan have received a bitter blow in their campaign to spare his life.
Mirza Tahir Hussain's family have pleaded with Pakistan President, General Pervez Musharraf to stop him from being hanged for murdering a taxi driver 18 years ago.
But Musharraf has rejected their pleas for a pardon.
Mr Hussain was cleared of the crime by the criminal system but a separate religious court found him guilty.
The 36-year-old, was just 18 when he left Leeds in December 1988 to visit relatives in Pakistan.
Three days after flying out from Heathrow, Mr Hussain took a train from his aunt's home in Karachi to Rawalpindi where he took a taxi for the journey to his family in the village of Bhubar.
Later that night, Hussain led police to the body of the driver, who had been shot dead and told them that the driver had stopped the car, tried to sexually assault him, pulled a gun, and that during a struggle the weapon went off and killed the driver.
It was later established that the gun did belong to the driver but Hussain was convicted and sentenced to death.
The High Court in Lahore said the case was flawed and ordered a retrial, in which Hussain was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Again, the High Court overturned the verdict, and on 20 May 1996, he was acquitted of all charges and looked set to be freed.
But Pakistan's sharia court, which operates in parallel to the secular court, intervened and reimposed the death sentence and Mirza has been in prison ever since.
