ISLAMABAD, Oct 19: The government has ordered a two-month stay of execution for British national Mirza Tahir Hussain, who has been on death row for the past 18 years, to ensure that the hanging does not take place during the forthcoming visit of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.
Mr Hussain, 36, from Leeds in northern England, was convicted of killing a taxi driver in the Chakwal district. He was due to be hanged on Nov 1. It is the fourth stay of execution granted to him.
The superintendent of the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi city confirmed to Dawn that he had received orders staying the execution until Dec 31.
In an unprecedented move, Prince Charles, who is due to visit Pakistan with his wife Camilla from Oct 29 to Nov 3, has also appealed for clemency in a letter to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the London-based Times newspaper reported on Thursday.
The daily quotes a spokesman at Clarence House as saying: “The Prince of Wales has been concerned about this case for some time and has raised it with the Prime Minister of Pakistan.”
However, the government was at pains to underline on Thursday that Mr Hussain’s execution had not been stayed under any foreign pressure.
Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani told newsmen in Islamabad that foreign pressure had nothing to do with the two-month stay of execution.
But Mr Hussain’s brother, Mirza Amjad Hussain, who has campaigned for a pardon, said the temporary postponement of execution had caused no let-up in the family’s ‘torture’.
He said he had suggested a solution of ‘blood money’ to the victim’s family under Islamic laws.
“But they are tribesmen and want a life for a life. All apologies and appeals for forgiveness have been lost on them. My brother has already spent half his life in jail,” he said.
A spokesman for the British High Commission said that during President Pervez Musharraf’s recent visit to the United Kingdom, British Prime Minister Tony Blair had requested him to grant a pardon to Mr Hussain.
“But President Musharraf refused to oblige, saying that he had limited powers under the Constitution,” he said.
He refused to be drawn on whether Mr Hussain’s mercy petition would figure in President Musharraf’s meeting with the Prince of Wales.
AFP adds from London: Mirza Tahir Hussain has thanked Prince Charles and Prime Minister Tony Blair for intervening in his case in an interview just before his execution was delayed on Thursday.
In a mobile phone interview from his prison cell, he told BBC radio: “I am grateful to His Royal Highness for showing interest in my plight.
“I am also grateful to Prime Minister Blair for his continued representation.
“It is the 11th hour and I once again renew my heartfelt plea to President Musharraf to pardon me and reflect on my circumstances and sufferings when he leads the country in celebrating Eid.
“I am hoping that President Musharraf will not send me to the gallows when he himself has expressed doubts about the safety of my conviction.”
A spokesman for Britain’s Foreign Office welcomed the delay, adding: “We will continue to make whatever representations are appropriate but we recognise this is a sovereign decision.”
