Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying

[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.

On June 1st of this year the life of a man who has spent half his life in prison will be extinguished in Pakistan. Mirza Tahir Hussain, a 36-year Pakistani-British dual citizen, will be hanged for the crime of murder. He will be hanged after an Islamic court in Pakistan found him guilty of murdering a taxi driver in 1988. He will be hanged after he was acquitted of all charges by the Pakistani High Court.

How can a man acquitted of murder by Pakistan’s High Court be hanged for murder by Pakistan’s Islamic court? Good question. The answer lies in Pakistan’s dueling judicial systems - one secular and one Islamic. If you are found innocent in one system, you can be tried in another. You get two for the price of one - Double Jeapardy knows no better home.

Amnesty International describes the facts of the case as follows:

Mirza Tahir Hussain was tried and convicted of murdering a taxi driver while travelling to the village of Bhubar from Rawalpindi, Punjab Province, on 17 December 1988. The taxi driver reportedly stopped the car and produced a gun, and Mirza Tahir Hussain, who was 18 years old at the time, was reportedly physically and sexually assaulted by the taxi driver. In the scuffle that followed, the gun went off, and the taxi driver was fatally injured.

Mirza Tahir Hussain was sentenced to death in 1989 at the Sessions Court in Islamabad. Following an appeal, this sentence was dismissed by the Lahore High Court, which noted discrepancies in the case. The case was returned to the Sessions Court where Mirza Tahir Hussain was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1994. Following a second appeal, the Lahore High Court then dismissed this sentence in 1996, and Mirza Tahir Hussain was acquitted of all charges against him.

A week later, Mirza Tahir Hussain’s case was referred to the Federal Shariat Court on charges from the original case, including robbery involving murder, which fall under Islamic offences against property law. The Federal Shariat Court’s duties include reviewing laws to ensure they conform with Islamic doctrine and dealing with appeals of cases tried under Islamic Law. The entire case against Mirza Tahir Hussain was reopened, and in 1998, he was sentenced to death by the Federal Shariat Court, despite their acknowledgment that no robbery had taken place due to the taxi being hired. The death penalty sentence by the Federal Shariat Court was based on a split two to one judgement, with the dissenting judge strongly recommending that Mirza Tahir Hussain be acquitted. Amnesty International believes that Mirza Tahir Hussain has not received a fair trial due to the contradictory statements of the different courts. Also, the Islamic provision under which he was tried requires that the death penalty should only be imposed if reliable eyewitness accounts or a confession to the court are submitted. In this case, neither was obtained.

The Washington Post also quotes the strong dissent by one of the judges in the Islamic court:

In August 1998, in a split 2-1 verdict, the Islamic court’s judges sentenced him to death again, although the legal provision he was tried under required a confession or witness to the crime. The prosecution had neither.

The dissenting judge, Abdul Waheed Siddiqui, gave a scathing assessment of the prosecution in a 59-page judgment. He described Hussain as "an innocent, raw youth not knowing the mischief and filth in which the police of this country is engrossed." He said police introduced false witnesses and "fabricated evidence in a shameless manner" against Hussein, who had no criminal record.

Mr. Hussain’s real crime was voluntarily surrendering to the police in the hopes of getting justice. The corrupt police in Pakistan and other developing countries make a mockery of the rule of law and terrorize their citizens. They are the real enemies in the War on Terror.

Mr. Hussain’s brother describes Tahir Hussain’s despair:

"Sometimes he just feels like getting this over and done with. He once told me don’t bother to try and help, because whatever God ordains is going to happen," Amjad Hussain said. "That scares me."

We cannot allow this miscarriage of justice to be carried out without raising our voices. We must demand clemency or a fair trial for this soul. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has the ability to intervene and has so far refused to do so. The United States, Pervez Musharraf’s real masters, has considerable sway over his actions. As in the case of Mukhtar Mai the light of the world’s attention can shame this act of cowardice from being carried out. Please take the time to contact your senators and congressmen to put pressure on the Government of Pakistan to stop this execution. Please contact the White House and the State Department and let them know that the United States has a duty to speak up in defense of Human Rights. Please contact the Pakistani Embassy in your country and tell them the world is watching. Please send a note to Pervez Musharraf and tell him the world will not forget.

I also ask Muslims in Pakistan and around the world to protest this imminent hanging. This miscarriage of justice is ostensibly being carried out in our name. This man’s death will shame us all. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful I ask all Muslims to show the quality of mercy in Islam and save this man’s life.

Time is short. Please act now.

Please contact the following:

• Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf via the President’s website.
• Email the Pakistani Ambassador to the United States, His Excellency Jehangir Karamat, at ambassador@pakistan-embassy.org.
• Email the White House at comments@whitehouse.gov.
• Contact your senators and congressmen.
• Contact Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice through the State Department website.