Reprieve calls on No. 10 to intervene

Many of you may have heard of the case of Naheem Hussain and Rehan Zaman at some point. These are two British lads who have been in prison in Pakistan for over five years, despite not having been convicted of any crime.

One of the most significant pieces of ‘evidence’ in the case against these guys has been their confessions. Both young men apparently committed cold-blooded murder, but then felt so bad about it that they decided to confess everything to the police, without a lawyer being present, even though murder is a capital offence in Pakistan.

What seems to have happened in reality is that both men were subject to barbaric torture including having their fingernails pulled out, cigarettes stubbed out on their arms and being repeatedly beaten to the point of unconsciousness. They ultimately ‘confessed’ when told by the police that they would simply be taken outside and shot if they did not capitulate.

What we have now been trying to do is ensure that this ‘evidence’ obtained through torture is excluded from their trial. To this end we have created an electronic petition on the No. 10 website and are trying to get as many people as possible to sign it to show that we will not stand by idly while people are being subject to this sort of treatment. We want Mr. Brown to make representations to the Pakistanis so that this so-called evidence is not used at the trial, and more importantly we want him to ensure that those who carried out this torture of two innocent young men are brought to justice so that others will not suffer as these two have.

If you would like to support our petition please sign it at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/naheemandrehan/ and forward the link to any others who may be interested.