British man on Pakistan death row to be released

Pakistan’s president commuted the death sentence against a British man who has spent 18 years behind bars disputing his conviction on charges of shooting dead a taxi driver, the interior minister said today.

Mirza Tahir Hussain (aged 36), originally from Leeds, who was convicted in the 1988 killing of Jamshed Khan, is expected to be released shortly, an official from the Pakistani presidency said.

The official did not elaborate, saying only that a formal announcement was expected soon.

Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said president gen. Pervez Musharraf yesterday converted Hussain’s death sentence to life in prison, which in Pakistan is equivalent to serving 14 years behind bars.

Hussain has already been jailed for 18 years in numerous Pakistani prisons.

British and European officials praised Musharraf’s decision to commute the sentence on humanitarian grounds, while human rights activists and relatives of Hussain called for his return to Britain.