Tahir Hussain Mirza - Pakistan

May 06

Update as of December 2006:

Fair Trials Aboard was delighted at the news that Mirza Tahir Hussain’s sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment by President Musharraf. He was immediately released having served 18 years in prison, 4 years longer than the life sentence tariff. Mirza returned to the UK in November 2006 where he was reunited with his family. After spending half of his life in prison, in particular being on death row for a number of years, he has a long way to recovery ahead of him.

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Update as of July 2006:

On 27 July, FTA Chief Executive Catherine Wolthuizen met with the Pakistani High Commissioner to press the case for Mirza Tahir Hussain's release following the announcement by the Pakistani Government that it intends to execute him on the 3 August. Reports that the Pakistani Government has granted another stay of four weeks were not confirmed by the High Commissioner and Mr Hussain's situation remains extremely precarious. We will continue to press for President Musharraf to overturn his unsafe conviction and allow him to return home to the UK.

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Tahir Mirza Hussain is a dual national of Britain and Pakistan. He grew up in Leeds. Tahir has been on death row in Pakistan for 18 years. He is due to be executed on 3 August 2006.

In December 1988, having joined the British Territorial Army, Tahir travelled to Pakistan to visit his family. He was 18 years old. He stayed for one night with his aunt in Karachi before travelling onwards to Rawalpindi, from where he took a taxi to his family’s village. During the journey, the driver stopped the car and tried to assault Tahir physically and sexually. The driver took out a pistol and, in the scuffle that ensued, the pistol went off and the driver was shot. He eventually died from his wounds. Tahir drove the taxi to the first police patrol he could find and handed over the pistol.

He was subsequently arrested, tried and convicted for murder. In 1996, he was eventually acquitted of all charges against him.

However a week later, the Sharia court declared that some of the alleged offences, namely highway robbery after dusk, lay within their jurisdiction of Islamic law. The Federal Shariat Court, despite observing that there was no actual robbery, reversed the decision of the High Court and sentenced Tahir to death.

The Supreme Court has subsequently upheld the conviction and sentence. An appeal for clemency to the President was denied. Tahir is due to be executed on 1 June 2006.

Tahir’s case is supported by the Islamic Human Rights Commission. An early day motion has been submitted to the House of Commons by John Battle MP, Greg Mulholland MP and Keiz Vaz MP. Josep Borrell Fontelles, President of the European Parliament, wrote a letter to Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf on 18 May 2006 asking him to spare the life of Tahir. Sajjad Karim MEP will meet the President for private discussions at the end of May.

Fair Trial Issues

1. Double jeopardy: being tried twice for the same crime in differing national legal systems on identical facts and evidence contrary to both national and international law;
2. An overall presumption of guilt in early court proceedings which failed to take into account circumstantial evidence including the ownership of the gun and the behaviour of Tahir in reporting the incident to the local police at the first opportunity;
3. The imposition of a death penalty following questionable judicial procedures.