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Death row Brit tells of abuse
27/11/2006 09:07 - (SA)
London - Mirza Tahir Hussain, the British man released from a Pakistani jail after spending 18 years on death row, spoke of the beatings and intimidation he experienced while in prison, in an interview published in The Times on Monday.
Hussain, 36, also described the events that led up to his shooting of a Pakistani taxi driver in 1988 - according to him, Jamshed Khan sexually assaulted him, and Khan's murder was an act of self defence.
He told the newspaper of how, on the taxi ride from Rawalpindi to Bhubur, where he was planning to pay an unannounced visit to relatives, Khan stopped the car on a quiet road, pulled out a gun and pointed it at him.
Hussain handed over the cash he had - about £200 ($388) worth of rupees and pounds - and Khan then asked him to "perform an indecent act".
Soon after, Hussain provoked a struggle between the two, and the gun went off, with a bullet piercing Khan's shoulder.
At that point, after attempting to flag down passing cars, Hussain drove the cab about 3.2km and approached a group of police officers, whom he asked for help.
"They didn't listen to me," he told the newspaper.
Police beating
"They told me I was a murderer, a dacoit (bandit). They started throwing punches and kicking me. I was hurt, lying on the ground. It lasted about five minutes."
Later, after Khan was dropped off at a mortuary, Hussain was driven to a police station in the town of Sihala, where he was subjected to more abuse.
"They were pressuring and scaring me so that later during questioning I would admit to anything."
According to Hussain, officers beat him with rods and bamboo sticks, demanding to know where the rest of his gang were. When he stuck to his story, his back and the soles of his feet were beaten.
He told the newspaper that recounting the story was so painful in itself that he refused to tell fellow inmates of why he had been convicted, because he did not want to recall the night.
Hussain was convicted in 1989 and cleared by a high court in 1996 before an Islamic Sharia court took control of the case and sentenced him to hang.
The dual British-Pakistani national returned to Britain earlier this month after his death sentence was commuted to life in prison by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
He was released because he had served enough time in prison counting Muslim holidays and good behaviour.
Prince Charles and Prime Minister Tony Blair raised the issue with Musharraf in recent months, pressing for Hussain's release.
- AFP
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