"TEMPORARY REPRIEVE NOWHERE NEAR ENOUGH - DEATH PENALTY MUST BE PERMANENTLY REMOVED" - MULHOLLAND

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 26th Jul 2006

Members of the delegation who met with the High Commissioner, Amjad Hussain is in the centre, and is flanked by Greg Mulholland MP (left) and members of Amnesty International

It has emerged following an urgent demonstration outside the Pakistani High Commission today that Mirza-Tahir Hussain has been granted yet another temporary stay of execution, which has been criticised by campaigners as nowhere near enough and prolonging the agony suffered by Mirza-Tahir Hussain and his family.

This was despite the fact that when a delegation, including Mirza-Tahir's brother Amjad Hussain, Amjad's MP Greg Mulholland, and representatives of human rights organisations, met with the Deputy High Commissioner they were informed that no stay of execution had officially been granted. This decision has been slammed by campaigners as merely prolonging the trauma for Mirza-Tahir and his family, and a cynical ploy on the part of the Pakistani Authorities to draw attention of the public and the media away from Mirza-Tahir's plight.

Commenting Greg Mulholland said

"This shows that the campaign is putting the pressure on the Pakistani authorities but they are still failing to face up to the key realities of the case; that it is a gross miscarriage of justice which must be overturned. The cycle of new dates for execution and then stays is mental torture for the family and for Mirza-Tahir. The Pakistani authorities must stop making excuses now and take decisive action to right this injustice, which is a stain on the reputation of their justice system. We will not stop, we will keep campaigning until Mirza-Tahir is back in Leeds with his family where he belongs."