MULHOLLAND CALLS FOR BLAIR TO URGENTLY INTERVENE ON BEHALF OF CONDEMNED LEEDS MAN

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 20th Jul 2006

Greg Mulholland, MP for Leeds North West, has called upon the Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett to make urgent representation to the Pakistani Authorities on behalf of Mirza-Tahir Hussain, the Leeds man currently languishing on death row in a Pakistani Prison, in light of alarming new developments in his case.

It has emerged - following a month-long temporary reprieve after the intervention of Pakistani President General Musharraf - that a new date has apparently been set for Mirza-Tahir's execution of the 3rd August, just 2 weeks away.

Though this is yet to be officially confirmed, this decision has shocked Mirza-Tahir's family, who believed that a new date would not be set whilst negotiations continued between themselves and the other family involved, a method of resolving cases enshrined in Islamic Law.

Despite the fact that his conviction has been overturned twice by the Lahore High Court unless urgent action is taken Mirza-Tahir Hussain could face being executed in only two weeks.

As a result, Greg has written urgent letters to the Foreign Secretary, and to the Prime Minister to call for him to make representations at the highest level so that the Pakistani Authorities might reconsider this decision and a viable legal solution to this case found.

Commenting Greg said:

"This is a shocking and extremely worrying development, and one which has greatly dismayed everyone involved.

Mirza-Tahir's family are in great distress and they do not feel that they are getting the help from the Government that they need or deserve.

It is no longer good enough to say this situation can be resolved through the channels which are currently being explored. This is a massive miscarriage of justice, and Mirza-Tahir's conviction is both unsafe and in breach of standards of international law.

Not only must the death sentence be urgently and permanently revoked, but there are real grounds to argue that his entire conviction should be completely overturned.

I have called upon the Prime Minister to do everything in his power to prevent this horrific death sentence from being carried out and I will continue to do everything I can to stop this travesty of justice."