Cases: Mirza Tahir Hussain (Pakistan)
Mirza Tahir Hussain comes from Leeds and served in the British Territorial Army. At the age of 18, he decided to visit family in Pakistan. On his second day in the country, Tahir hired a taxi to take him to the village of Bhubar, near Rawalpindi. On the way, the taxi driver attempted to sexually assault Tahir at gunpoint. During the ensuing struggle, the gun went off, injuring the taxi driver, who later died.
Tahir was tried for murder and sentenced to death. After several appeals, his conviction was quashed by the Supreme Court and he was ordered to be released. However, the victim’s family intervened and succeeded in having Tahir’s case transferred to Pakistan’s parallel Sharia court system. In 1998, the Sharia court by a two-to-one vote once again sentenced Tahir to death. The dissenter lambasted the decision as a ‘miscarriage of justice’.
In 2006, Reprieve was contacted about the case and immediately began working with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and other organisations to secure a pardon for Tahir. Reprieve informed leading politicians and other public figures about the case, including the Prime Minister, Prince Charles and the president of Pakistan, President Musharraf. Reprieve also played a key role in publicising Tahir’s plight in the media. In October 2006, Reprieve’s Senior Counsel Zachary Katznelson visited Tahir in prison in Pakistan and met with numerous Pakistani officials and judges to press for justice in the case.
In November, 2006, Tahir’s sentence was commuted and he was released, after 18 years on death row.
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