[Hat tip to Beagle for bringing this to my attention in a comment.]
The Pakistan High Commission in London confirmed, on the day a protest was scheduled at its doorstep, that Mirza Tahir Hussain’s execution has been stayed again for another month. He is now scheduled to be executed on September 3.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf should, instead of torturing Mr. Hussain and his family with one-month stays of execution, do the right thing and pardon this man.
According to The Guardian:
The Pakistani high commission in London today confirmed reports that a British man being held on death row in Pakistan has been granted a stay of execution.
Mirza Tahir Hussain, 36, has spent half his life in jail awaiting execution after being convicted of the murder of a taxi driver in 1988 – a crime he has always maintained he did not commit.
Despite the Pakistani high court clearing his name in 1996 an Islamic court took over his case and reaffirmed the death sentence.
This morning, as 150 demonstrators gathered at the Pakistani high commission in London, Mahmood Ahmed, an official at the Adiala jail in Islamabad said he had received an order from the Pakistan president, General Pervez Musharraf, on Wednesday to postpone Mr Hussain’s execution until September 1.
Mr Hussain’s brother condemned President Musharraf for "playing a game of cat and mouse" with his brother’s life.
"We did not ask for a further stay of execution," Mr Hussain said. "We asked for President Musharraf to pardon my brother, or commute his sentence."
He said that the stay of execution was "prolonging the agony" of the family.
Sarah Green from Amnesty International said that the campaign group was deeply suspicious of the timing of the announcement.
"It’s worrying that the family were not told first, and that the news was given directly to journalists," she said.
"It reflects the way this case has happened and we suspect the information on the reprieve was given out in the hope that the protestors will go away."
Officials at the Pakistani high commission had earlier refused to confirm that Mr Hussain had been granted another month to live.
Click here to read the article in its entirety. Click here for background on his case.
