A nonsense case, which highlights the ineptitude of the pakistani legal system. I rephase this, because ineptitude beggars incompetence, which can be excused to a minute point.

I hasten to say corruption, closing the book on a case, which smacks of a juducial system which is not fit for the 21 century. A 21st century, which Pakistan is purportedly trying to join.

{application and judgement of so-called sharia law sucks bigtime – completely power hungry torture-loving vengeful types seem to be managing to put themselves at the helm. grr)

thanks raz for the sample letters. what a nightmare for the poor man. 18 years long! i cannot believe the various British government/s couldn’t have had him ‘extradited’ all this time. sheesh!

here’s the link to Amnesty’s appeal on this. ( they also link to lovely mr. tony’s website where we can send emails too) thank god for Amnesty intl

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_details.asp?ActionID=116

please copy and paste these letters to word and complet your name address etc and send them off
thank you

Sample Letter to Margaret Beckett

[Your Name]
[Your Address]

[Date]

Rt. Hon. Margaret Beckett MP
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London
SW1A 2AH

Dear Ms Beckett,

Re: Imminent Execution of British Citizen in Pakistan

I am writing to request that you act urgently to prevent the imminent execution of British citizen Mirza Tahir Hussain in Pakistan. Mirza has been on death row in Pakistan for 18 years and was due to be executed on 3 June 2006. He has now been given a reprieve until 3 July 2006 and there is still a substantial danger of him being executed any time after this.

I appreciate that you have recently written to President Musharraf about this case and I am grateful for your efforts. However, I request you to intensify your efforts to guarantee that Mirza will be not only granted an indefinite stay of execution but also released from prison and allowed return to Britain. Under Article 45 of the Constitution of Pakistan, President Musharraf has the power to commute the sentence and has indeed used such a power on many occasions in the past including the he commutation of the sentences in 2000 of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and in 1998 of Parminder Singh Saini who hijacked an airliner from India to Pakistan.

As you are aware, Mirza is a British citizen who served in the Territorial Army and was prepared to give his life for Britain. It is wholly unjustified that the British government should allow him to fester away in a prison in Pakistan for a crime of which he is innocent. He has already lost half of his life in prison.

I appeal to you and Prime Minister Blair to personally intervene further to ensure Mirza is allowed live the remainder of his life in freedom.

I look forward to hearing from you soon on this urgent matter.

Yours Sincerely,

[Your Signature]

[Your Name]

————————————————————————————————————

Sample Letter to MP

[Your Name]
[Your Address]

[Date]

[Your MP]
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA

Dear [Your MP]

Re: Imminent Execution of British Citizen in Pakistan

As a member of your constituency, I am writing to request that you act urgently to prevent the imminent execution of British citizen Mirza Tahir Hussain in Pakistan. Mirza has been on death row in Pakistan for 18 years and is due to be executed on 3 July 2006.

In December 1988, at the age of 18, Mirza travelled to Pakistan to visit family. He stayed for one night with his aunt in Karachi before travelling onwards to Rawalpindi in the evening from where he took a taxi to his village Bhubar. According to Mirza, someway through the journey, the driver stopped the car and tried to physically and sexually assault Mirza. The driver took out a pistol and in the scuffle that ensued, the pistol went off and hit the driver who ultimately died of his wounds.

Mirza drove the taxi to the first police station he could find and handed them the pistol. He was subsequently arrested, tried and convicted of murder. Despite the High Court acquitting Mirza of all offences and charges against him in May 1996, the Federal Shariat court re-tried the case, reversed the decision of the High Court and awarded him the death penalty, ignoring the numerous discrepancies in the case. The judgment was affirmed by the Supreme Court.

This is a huge miscarriage of justice – Mirza is a British citizen who has spent the last 18 years in a Pakistani jail for a crime he did not commit. He completed his secondary education in Britain and also joined the British Territorial Army. The case against him is ludicrous and the British government must do all in its power to stop the execution and ensure that Mirza is returned to the UK as soon as possible.

During his time in prison, Mirza has also passed his matriculation, FA and BA Part 1 exams, and has shown intent of taking up higher-education and studying law. Neither Mirza nor his family both in Pakistan and the UK have any previous criminal convictions or involvement in criminal activities of any kind.

I urge you to write to the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary and ensure that Mirza is not executed and that he is allowed return to his home in the UK and rebuild his shattered life. Under Article 45 of the Constitution of Pakistan, President Musharraf has the power to commute the sentence and has indeed used such a power on many occasions in the past including the commutation of the sentences in 2000 of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and in 1998 of Parminder Singh Saini who hijacked an airliner from India to Pakistan.

I also would like you to sign EDM 2081 tabled by John Battle MP urging the government to petition the President of Pakistan to prevent Mirza’s execution.

Thank you for your time. I will be contacting you shortly to confirm receipt of my letter. I look forward to hearing from you soon on this urgent matter.

Yours Sincerely,

[Your Signature]

[Your Name]

————————————————————————————————————

Sample Letter to President Musharraf

[Your Name]
[Your Address]

[Date]

President
General Pervez Musharraf
Pakistan Secretariat,
Islamabad,
Pakistan

Dear President Musharraf:

Re: Imminent Execution of British Citizen in Pakistan

I am writing to request that you use your powers under Article 45 of the Constitution of Pakistan to commute the death sentence of Mirza Tahir Hussain, a British citizen who has been on death row in Pakistan for 18 years and is due to be executed on 3 July 2006.

This case is a clear miscarriage of justice which has destroyed the life of a naïve young man. In December 1988, at the age of 18, Mirza travelled to Pakistan to visit family. He stayed for one night with his aunt in Karachi before travelling onwards to Rawalpindi in the evening from where he took a taxi to his village Bhubar.Mirza states that, someway through the journey, the driver stopped the car and tried to physically and sexually assault Mirza. The driver took out a pistol and in the scuffle that ensued, the pistol went off and hit the driver who ultimately died of his wounds.

Mirza drove the taxi to the first police station he could find and handed them the pistol. He was subsequently arrested, tried and convicted of murder. Despite the High Court acquitting Mirza of all offences and charges against him in May 1996, the Federal Shariat court re-tried the case, reversed the decision of the High Court and awarded him the death penalty. The judgment was affirmed by the Supreme Court.

This is a huge travesty of justice – Mirza has spent the last 18 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. The case against him is ludicrous. Even the dissenting judge in the Federal Shariat Court strongly recommended that Mirza be acquitted due to the lack of witnesses and a confession.

Neither Mirza nor his family both in Pakistan and the UK have any previous criminal convictions or involvement in criminal activities of any kind.

I urge you to make use your Constitutional powers to grant Mirza clemency and allow him to return to his home in the UK and rebuild his shattered life. I believe that you have used such a power on many occasions in the past including the commutation of the sentences in 2000 of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and in 1998 of Parminder Singh Saini who hijacked an airliner from India to Pakistan.

I look forward to hearing from you soon on this urgent matter.

Yours Sincerely,

[Your Name]

The BBC reports that Mirza Tahir Hussain had written a letter to Tony Blair. The letter first appeared in The Times this morning, whose reporter Martin Fletcher managed to meet Mirza Hussain in his Rawalpindi prison and conduct a lengthy…

This is a horrible case. I heard it on my local radio station a while back in Manchester. Sharia Law, as it stands in Pakistan (or anywhere for that matter), is both brutal and illogical.

If you’re planning to get in contact with The Times newspaper, may I recommend one of their regular columnists. He’s very, very nice (or so I’m told).

I’ll pray for his release.

Amir

Fill in your name and location as required.

SUBJECT: Imminent Execution of Mirza Tahir Hussain

Due to the 3000 character limit you can (if you want)copy and paste the revised version of my original letter hereunder:

I am writing to express my concern that you have yet to exercise your presidential powers prevent the imminent execution of British citizen Mirza Tahir Hussain, who has been on death row in Pakistan for 18 years and was due to be executed on October 1st 2006. His execution has been rescheduled by default since it fell during the month of Ramadan.
When he arrived in Pakistan for the first time In December 1988, Mirza was just 18. Just one day in Pakistan ruined the young man’s life. Eighteen subsequent years of unjust treatment at the hands of a corrupt judiciary, receiving no reprieve from successive governments, Mirza is now 36 and the failed duality of the Pakistani court system still has him by the neck. Evidently, Mirza Tahir’s real crime was voluntarily surrendering to the police in the hopes of finding justice for an act of self-defense. However, the corrupt police in Pakistan have made a mockery of the rule of law and continue to terrorize their citizens.
This is a huge miscarriage of justice – Mirza has spent the last 18 years in jail for a crime he did not commit. The evidence against him is “mutually annihilating”, as was established by the Honourable Justice(r)Abdul Waheed Siddiqui in a 59-page review of the FSC’s judgment in 1998. Please refer to the aforementioned document if you are, indeed, in any doubt over how heinous a crime you will personally be guilty of committing if you do not intercede now and prevent the victim’s family from pursuing blind vengeance on legally unsustainable grounds.
You reportedly told the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee: “I have to adhere to the legal norms of Pakistan..I cannot promise anything but let me assure you I will abide by the legalities of Pakistan.”
But Mr President – the law is quite clear in such matters. You can indeed commute Mirza’s case by simply exercising the Presidential powers granted under Article 45 of the Pakistani constitution, which states that “the President shall have power to grant pardon, reprieve and respite, and to remit, suspend or commute any sentence passed by any court, tribunal or other authority”. But you haven’t so far.
You are, in fact, the only vehicle of justice through which the decision of a flawed judicial system can be overturned to save his life. The Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) said: “To let nine criminals go free is preferable to convicting one innocent man.”
The State of Pakistan is guilty of convicting and imprisoning a potentially innocent man for 18 long years. I urge you to ensure that Mirza Tahir Hussain is not executed and that he is allowed return to his home in the UK.
None of us are innocent if we stand by and watch such injustice being carried out, especially not you, Sir.
For the sake of continuing justice in all civilized Islamic states, please grant Mirza the clemency you have repeatedly denied him and set the correct precedence for establishing guilt in courts of justice.

PLEASE take out 5 minutes and help Mirza.
Oh an incase you guys haven’t read this yet, Martin Fletcher snuck into Adiala Jail and interviewed Mirza: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2391444_1,00.html

Rebekah Wade doesnt give a damn, because Pakistani men, and Asian men generally, are the scum of the Earth as far as some people in this society are concerened. Hence this chap does not generate as much innate sympathy as anyone else would, or as a 12 year old girl who swaps a drab council estate in the highlands for her fathers palatial mansion in Lahore generates.

Thabet has some suggestions on applying pressure.

Rt. Hon. Margaret Beckett MP
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London
SW1A 2AH

Tel.: +44 020 7008 1500
Fax: +44 20 7839 2417
Email private.office@fco.gov.uk

b. Contact your MP to sign Early Day Motion No. 2081 tabled by John Battle MP urging the British government to petition the President of Pakistan to prevent Mirza’s execution..

For contact details of who your MP is and where to write to them, visit http://www.writetothem.com

Alternatively, call the House of Commons switchboard on 020 7219 3000 and ask for your MP’s office

c. Write to the Pakistani High Commissioner in Britain Dr Maleeha Lodi requesting her to intercede on Mirza’s behalf in this clear miscarriage if justice.

Dr Maleeha Lodi
High Commissioner for Pakistan
Pakistan High Commission
34-36 Lowndes Square
London, SW1X 9JN

Fax. 020 7664 9224
Email: pareplondon@supanet.com
Write or meet with your local MP on the case highlighting the issues outlined and request a response on the points raised.

To be fair, a lot of the quality MSM outlets have covered this. Can we really blame Rebekah Wade for breaking out of her remit of tits on page 3 and football on the back pages to cover stuff like this? I have long ago given up any expectation of journalism from the tabloids. Karma will, no doubt, exact a long, painful and malodorous death for Rebekkah Wade, but can we expect her to develop a set of journalistic principles?

Thank god for blogs. Now how do I apply pressure for clemency for this man?