[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 4



PAKISTAN:

Rough justice


Even for the most ardent advocates of capital punishment the noose should
be applied only where there is no reasonable doubt. In the case of Mirza
Tahir Hussain, however, there are enough question marks to merit an
overhaul of the Pakistani legal system, let alone acquit him of the crime
of which he has been convicted.

Barring any eleventh-hour change of heart on the part of the Pakistani
president, Mirza will soon be sent to the gallows for an offence that he
probably did not commit.

Mirza was an 18-year-old teenager from Leeds when he travelled to Pakistan
in 1988 to meet his relatives. Staying a night in Karachi with his aunt he
moved on to Rawalpindi and from there rented a taxi for the last leg of
his journey to his family town of Chakwal, in the lawless northern tribal
belt.

It was at this point that things began to go horribly wrong. According to
Mirza, the taxi driver tried to seduce him and when that failed, produced
a pistol and demanded his wicked way. There was a scuffle during which
Mirza shot dead his alleged assailant. He then drove away until he spotted
the 1st policemen and reported what had just occurred.

But that wasn't how the judges saw it. In 1989 they sentenced him to death
for the killing. Since then his case has been knocked around Pakistani
courts like an overworked squash ball.

In 1992 the death penalty was revoked and the case sent for retrial. Here
Mirza's conviction was upheld and sentenced to life imprisonment. Then in
1996 the High Court quashed the conviction and acquitted Mirza of all
charges.

But as Mirza was waiting to be released the case was suddenly transferred
to the federal shariah court for a retrial on the basis that the offences
fell under their competence. The shariah court found him guilty all over
again and duly reimposed the death sentence.

Mirza has been through another appeal and a review but failed to overturn
the judgements. He was due to be executed on yesterday but has been
granted a stay until 1 June. That has bought campaigners some time to try
and have the death penalty lifted.

Sajjad Karim, the MEP for North West England, has drafted a petition
asking for Pakistani president Parvez Musharraf to use his constitutional
power to commute the sentence on the basis that Mirza has already served
18 years in prison. He is also preparing to lead a formal EU human rights
mission to Pakistan later this month.

Fair Trials Abroad is also swinging into action. "The whole thing is
disgraceful. It's double jeopardy. The guy was tried once and acquitted.
What it really is is people who aren't judges and who have no standing in
law mucking about with shariah law", said director Stephen Jakobi.

Mirza's case has once again thrown the spotlight over the workings of
Pakistan's shariah courts. But Massoud Shadjareh of the Islamic Human
Rights Commission, which is spearheading the campaing for Mirza, says the
problem goes beyond the secular-religious divide.

"The issue is more fundamental. The question is do we have a just system.
The way the laws are being applied falls very short of due process. You
can't take a process that is flawed and then put the label 'shariah' in
front of it," he said.

Pakistan's legal system is littered with miscarriages of justice caused by
corruption, political interference and imcompetence. In July 2001 Rehmat
Shah Afridi, chief editor of the Frontier Post, became the first person in
Pakistan's history to be sentenced to death for allegedly trafficking
hashish. The sentence was reduced to life imprisonment but supporters
maintain he is paying the price for a series of articles he published
accusing Anti Narcotics Force officers of involvement in the drug trade.

Serious doubts remain about the safety of Mirza's own conviction. There
wasn't a single eye witness to the event, no evidence to show that Mirza
robbed the deceased, or why if he intended to steal the car he drove it to
the nearest police officers.

Mirza's father died 2 years ago awaiting justice for his son. His brother
Amjad is angry at the failure of the British authorities to exert enough
pressure on the Pakistani government.

"The government here didn't take up his case properly. If he was a white
national they would have taken it up but they say they couldn't because he
was a dual national. Thats the standard cliche they hide behind. My
brother was serving in the Territorial Army, he was putting his life
forward for queen and country," he said.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office denied it wasn't doing its best for
Mirza. "Because he is a dual national we wouldn't normally make
representations to a foreign country," said a spokeswoman. "But because
there is a death sentence, we are are continuing to make representations
up to ministerial level. We are still trying to get the sentence
commuted."

(source: The Guardian)