May 25, 2006	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 26, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, May 24: Family members of British national Mirza Tahir Hussain, a murder convict, have requested the administration of Adiala jail to take stringent security steps as they feared for his life.

The convict’s brother Mirza Amjad Hussain in an application to Superintendent of Adiala jail Tariq Babar said he received threats from the family of Jamshed Khan who was killed by Tahir in 1989.

He claimed that his brother (Tahir) might be killed or injured by his rivals in the jail. He requested the jail administration to provide security to Tahir.

In his application, Amjad requested the administration that they had not allowed anyone to meet Tahir, except his relatives.

Amjad told Dawn that “the threats are always there.”

He said his family had been receiving threats for the last 18 years. Amjad quoted the rivals as saying that “we are obligated by our tradition to kill our enemy, even if he gets rescued by courts”.

The convict’s grandfather and other family member are in contact with the family of Jamshed, living in Mohmand Agency, to convince them to have mercy on Tahir as he had already spent 18 years in prison.

The jail superintendent, Tariq Babar, said the execution of Tahir had been stayed for one month and after this period a case would be referred to the court to send him to the gallows if President Gen Pervez Musharraf turns down the clemency appeal.

Deputy Superintendent of Jail, Malik Safdar told Dawn that necessary measures would be taken for the security of Tahir on the verbal request of his brother Amjad on Wednesday.

When asked as to what measures are likely to be adopted for Tahir’s security, the deputy superintendent said: “How is it possible to provide security to a man in an overcrowded jail.”