Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 8, 2006 12:28:33 GMT -5
Death-row Briton asks Blair to save his life
A BRITON due to be executed within weeks in Pakistan has issued an appeal
to the Prime Minister to help him, saying: "Please Mr Blair, take me home,
I have suffered enough."
Mirza Tahir Hussain, who is originally from Leeds and also has Pakistani
citizenship, is due to be hanged on October 1 for the murder of a taxi
driver 18 years ago.
Now Hussain has made a personal plea to both Tony Blair and Pakistan
President Pervez Musharraf to step in.
Speaking from his cell to the BBC Asian Network, he said: "I appeal to the
conscience and good humanity of President Musharraf to pardon or commute
my death sentence.
"I also call upon the Prime Minister Tony Blair to use the relationship
Britain has with Pakistan to bring me home.
"I'd like to thank everybody who has campaigned for me particularly the
people of Leeds, Amnesty International, the International Committee of the
Red Cross and the British High Commissioner in Islamabad.
"Please Mr Blair take me home, I have suffered enough.
"I miss my mum, my brother, my nephews, my elders, teachers, family and
friends."
Hussain was convicted of murdering the taxi driver in the district of
Chakwal in 1988 when he was 18, but was acquitted in 1996 at the Lahore
High Court.
A week later it was declared that some of the alleged offences came within
the jurisdiction of Islamic law and his case was referred to the Federal
Shariah Court, which reversed the decision of the High Court and served
Hussain with the death penalty.
Hussain had just arrived in Pakistan to visit relatives when the incident
occurred.
He had ordered a taxi from Rawalpindi to Bhubar and later told police that
the taxi driver tried to sexually assault him at gunpoint. In a scuffle,
the gun went off and the driver was killed.
Hussain, a former Territorial Army soldier from Headingley, drove the taxi
to the first policeman he saw and gave himself up.
As his execution date approached this year a number of groups and
individuals, led by his brother Amjad Hussain, have desperately tried to
put pressure on the Pakistani president to intervene.
Last month, after the execution was further stayed until October 1, Amjad
appealed directly to Mr Blair to step in.
(source: Yorkshire Post Today)
A BRITON due to be executed within weeks in Pakistan has issued an appeal
to the Prime Minister to help him, saying: "Please Mr Blair, take me home,
I have suffered enough."
Mirza Tahir Hussain, who is originally from Leeds and also has Pakistani
citizenship, is due to be hanged on October 1 for the murder of a taxi
driver 18 years ago.
Now Hussain has made a personal plea to both Tony Blair and Pakistan
President Pervez Musharraf to step in.
Speaking from his cell to the BBC Asian Network, he said: "I appeal to the
conscience and good humanity of President Musharraf to pardon or commute
my death sentence.
"I also call upon the Prime Minister Tony Blair to use the relationship
Britain has with Pakistan to bring me home.
"I'd like to thank everybody who has campaigned for me particularly the
people of Leeds, Amnesty International, the International Committee of the
Red Cross and the British High Commissioner in Islamabad.
"Please Mr Blair take me home, I have suffered enough.
"I miss my mum, my brother, my nephews, my elders, teachers, family and
friends."
Hussain was convicted of murdering the taxi driver in the district of
Chakwal in 1988 when he was 18, but was acquitted in 1996 at the Lahore
High Court.
A week later it was declared that some of the alleged offences came within
the jurisdiction of Islamic law and his case was referred to the Federal
Shariah Court, which reversed the decision of the High Court and served
Hussain with the death penalty.
Hussain had just arrived in Pakistan to visit relatives when the incident
occurred.
He had ordered a taxi from Rawalpindi to Bhubar and later told police that
the taxi driver tried to sexually assault him at gunpoint. In a scuffle,
the gun went off and the driver was killed.
Hussain, a former Territorial Army soldier from Headingley, drove the taxi
to the first policeman he saw and gave himself up.
As his execution date approached this year a number of groups and
individuals, led by his brother Amjad Hussain, have desperately tried to
put pressure on the Pakistani president to intervene.
Last month, after the execution was further stayed until October 1, Amjad
appealed directly to Mr Blair to step in.
(source: Yorkshire Post Today)