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History > 2006 > UK > International (IV)
Dave Brown
The Independent
19.12.2006
British Prime Minister Tony Blair
Foreign Office rap for archbishop
Sunday December 24, 2006
The Observer
Jamie Doward and Gaby Hinsliff
A serious row between church and state broke
out last night after the Foreign Office rebuked the Archbishop of Canterbury for
accusing the government of putting Christians across the Middle East at risk
because of its 'shortsighted' and 'ignorant' policy in Iraq.
Writing in a newspaper yesterday, Dr Rowan
Williams said the consequences of Anglo-American foreign policy have been the
erosion of good relations between Muslim and Christian communities.
'One warning often made and systematically ignored in the hectic days before the
Iraq War was that Western military action ... would put Christians in the whole
Middle East at risk,' wrote Williams. 'The results are now painfully adding to
what was already a difficult situation for Christian communities across the
region.' Williams, who is currently visiting Israel with Cardinal Cormac
Murphy-O'Connor, head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, said
that thousands of Christians were fleeing Iraq every few months, while some
priests had been murdered.
The Foreign Office, however, said that while
the church leaders were entitled to their views, they were wrong to blame
British foreign policy. 'It's not the policies of the UK which are causing
suffering for Christians in Iraq or the Middle East,' said a Foreign Office
spokesman. 'It's the fact that there are intolerant extremists inflicting pain
and suffering on people. These extremists are indiscriminately killing
Christians, moderate Muslims, Sunnis and peoples of all faiths.'
The row comes as the Queen today sends a
special Christmas message of support by radio to British troops, praising the
courage of those stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
'In Iraq and Afghanistan you continue to make an enormous contribution in
helping to rebuild those countries and in other operational theatres you
undertake essential duties with a professionalism which is so highly regarded
the world over,' the Queen says.
It is the second time in recent years that the Queen has recorded a separate
message for troops in addition to her annual 25 December broadcast.
Foreign Office rap for archbishop, O, 24.12.2006,
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1978528,00.html
Moderate Arab world
must see the threat Iran poses,
Blair says
December 21, 2006
The Times
Sam Coates, Political Correspondent, in Dubai
Attempts to bring peace 'undermined'
Tehran is 'openly backing terrorism'
Iran is “at war” with the moderate Arab world
and Western forces trying to bring peace and stability to the region, Tony Blair
said yesterday.
Speaking at the end of his six-day trip to the Middle East, the Prime Minister
said that he believed that Iraq and Afghanistan could still become holiday
hotspots for tourists, following the example set by Dubai, which had more than a
million British visitors this year. But before this could happen Arab nations
needed to “wake up” to the threat posed by Iran, which he blamed for undermining
peace in Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories.
“Here are elements of the Government of Iran, openly supporting terrorism in
Iraq . . . trying to turn out a democratic government in Lebanon, flouting the
international community’s desire for peace in Palestine — at the same time as
denying the Holocaust and trying to acquire nuclear weapons capability. We have
to wake up.
“These forces of extremism — based on a warped and wrong-headed
misinterpretation of Islam — aren’t fighting a conventional war. But they are
fighting one.” In response, he said, the Arab world should build an alliance of
moderate nations to “pin back” Iran and prevent it from disrupting the region.
He implied that countries in the Middle East such as the United Arab Emirates,
where he fin ished his tour, were failing to give “clear backing” to forces of
moderation.
One of the strategic goals of the trip had been to try to encourage moderate
Arab countries to take a more active role backing peace. The Baker- Hamilton
report into the future of Iraq suggested that the UAE could do more to dampen
the sectarian violence.
However, Mr Blair’s meetings took place behind closed doors and no comment on
them was made by leaders of the states that he visited.
Mr Blair also used the speech to business leaders in Dubai to denounce those in
Britain who believed that war in Iraq had inflamed sectarian violence. He called
for an “alliance of moderation” to tackle the forces of extremism. He also
called on moderate countries to help those inside Iran who disagreed with the
hardline policies of President Ahmadinejad.
The speech came after Mr Blair’s visits to Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Israel and the
Palestinian Authority, which he believes are linked by a common need to
challenge extremism.
Mr Blair’s official spokesman denied that his call for other Middle Eastern
countries, mostly dominated by Sunnis, to unite against Shia Iran amounted to a
call for confrontation between the two Muslim traditions. He pointed out that Mr
Blair had strongly supported Nouri al-Maliki, the Shia Prime Minister of Iraq,
and insisted: “He works with people of all faiths. The important thing is what
people do, not what their religious denomination is.”
Mr Blair denied that he was hindering the spread of democracy by championing the
fledgeling steps towards representative government in the UAE, which allows 1
per cent of the population a say in the way the country is run. Last weekend
6,689 Emirati men and women voted to elect 20 members of a consultative
assembly. A further 20 will be appointees of the Royal Family. Mr Blair said:
“It has to move at its own pace but the direction is very clear. It has its own
political issues because of the way the country has developed.”
Moderate Arab world must see the threat Iran poses, Blair says, Ts, 21.12.2006,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2513647,00.html
Peter Brookes
Times December 20, 2006
Blair calls for Middle East 'alliance of
moderation'
By Andrew Grice, Political Editor
The Independent
Published: 20 December 2006
Tony Blair today called on countries in the
Middle East to form an " alliance of moderation" to take on Iran as part of a
"monumental struggle" between democracy and extremism.
In a speech in Dubai, the Prime Minister said that extremists motivated by a
"warped and wrong-headed" interpretation of Islam pose a threat not only to
America and its allies, but to moderate people across the region.
He appealed to moderate countries to mobilise against extremists in " the
struggle of the early 21st century". He warned: "It is not too late, but it is
urgent."
On the final lap of a five-day visit to the Middle East, Mr Blair said: " We
must support and empower moderate and modernising governments and people
everywhere in this region. We must recognise the strategic threat the government
of Iran poses - not its people, not possibly all of its ruling elements but
those presently in charge of its policy. They seek to pin us back in Lebanon, in
Iraq, in Palestine. Our response should be to expose what they are doing, build
the alliances to prevent it and pin them back across the whole of the region."
Mr Blair acknowledged that the solution to the Middle East's problems must come
from within the region, but said its impact will be felt everywhere. Although
there has been no major breakthrough, he is quietly confident that leading
players want to move the process forward and has not ruled out a return visit in
the new year.
Mr Blair identified three priorities - giving the Palestinian president the
capacity to improve the lives of the Palestinian people; an early meeting
between Palestinian and Israeli leaders and relaunching the political process
leading to a two-state solution.
Yesterday Mr Blair rejected criticism that he has no real influence on the Bush
administration and warned that Britain would pay a "very heavy price" if it
distanced itself from the United States. He hit back after a scathing report by
Chatham House, the influential foreign affairs think-tank, said he had been
unable to influence George Bush in any significant way and called on the next
prime minister to rebalance foreign policy towards closer links with Europe.
An unrepentant Mr Blair said: "Britain having a strong relationship with the US
has been a cornerstone of our policy for years and my view is if we give it up
because we come under pressure from parts of the media or public opinion, we
will pay a very heavy price."
He argued that progress in the Israel-Palestine peace process would not be
possible without America.
Blair
calls for Middle East 'alliance of moderation', I, 20.12.2006,
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2087585.ece
Blair backs Abbas plan amid
Gaza violence
Published: 19 December 2006
The Independent
By Donald Macintyre in Ramallah
Tony Blair launched an effort yesterday to
secure international backing for the Palestinian President's high-risk plan to
call fresh elections in the hope of dislodging Hamas from political power and
lifting the Western blockade of Gaza and the West Bank.
Mr Blair went out of his way to praise President Mahmoud Abbas's "landmark"
announcement of the plan as the ceasefire between Hamas and the president's
rival Fatah group came under renewed strain in a still-tense Gaza Strip with
sporadic kidnappings and exchanges of gunfire.
In the most high profile kidnapping in the Gaza Strip so far, a senior Fatah
official, the former prisoners minister Sufian Abu Zaydeh, was snatched by
presumed Hamas militants.
Fatah sources said last night that one of the faction's activists had been
killed and three others wounded in the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza and
blamed Hamas for the attack.
Mr Blair, whose officials are working on a putative new international aid
package designed to strengthen Mr Abbas's beleaguered presidency, coupled his
appeal with his strongest declaration yet that Hamas - elected in January -
could no longer be allowed to "veto" efforts over "these coming weeks" to revive
a Middle East peace process.
In remarks apparently directed at the international "quartet" of the US, EU,
Russia and the UN, the Prime Minister told Mr Abbas "that my country's position
and it should be the position of the international community" was that the
President had "given leadership in this situation and shown you are determined
to find a way forward".
While acknowledging that Britain was discussing with "international partners"
the possibility of extending existing aid to the Palestinians, to relieve the
impact of the boycott, British officials were guarded about the details. One
possibility would be to extend the $329m Temporary International Mechanism
(TIM), which currently makes payments to Palestinian Authority employees in
health and education who are receiving no salary, to PA security forces. Besides
injecting some new funds to the Palestinian economy, the move would help to
bolster security forces loyal to Mr Abbas.
Another option apparently under discussions is to channel some social and
economic funds through the President's office.
Although neither Mr Blair nor the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, who met
last night, gave details the two men were understood to have discussed possible
ways in which the $65m per month of taxes that Israel has owed to the
Palestinians for the past 10 months could be remitted - possibly through the TIM
or Mr Abbas's office - while bypassing the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.
Mr Olmert said Mr Blair had put forward a number of "interesting ideas" and
added: "We are certainly looking for ways in which the funds we hold can go to
the relevant addresses in accordance with the rules of the international
community. Mr Olmert said there was "not a policy of withholding [funds] from
the Palestinian people."
Mr Blair declared earlier: "I hope we will be in a position over these coming
weeks to put together an initiative that allows that support for reconstruction
and development and to alleviate the plight and suffering of the Palestinian
people and also, crucially, give a political framework to move forward to a
two-state solution."
Mr Abbas strongly reaffirmed his intention to hold elections, declaring: "I am
determined to go back to the people. We have been in a crisis for nine months.
People cannot wait for long. People are suffering from the economic, social and
security situation."
Mr Blair, who was accused by the Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum of "inflaming the
political situation" by overtly supporting Mr Abbas, added: "If the
international community really means what it says about a two-state solution and
about supporting moderation then now is the time for the international community
to respond to the position you have set out."
In Gaza, where Sunday saw one of the worst days of internal fighting in the wake
of Mr Abbas's announcement, Alaa Yaghi, a Fatah parliament member, said that his
brother had been kidnapped by Hamas in a "message to me and my movement."
Blair
backs Abbas plan amid Gaza violence, I, 19.12.2006,
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2086702.ece
12.45pm
Abbas receives Blair's backing
Monday December 18, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Staff and agencies
Tony Blair today pledged his support for the
embattled Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, using a joint news conference in
the West Bank to praise his "vision" in peace efforts.
"I will not rest for a single moment until we
have delivered what we both want to achieve," Mr Blair said in Ramallah.
Mr Abbas, meanwhile, reiterated his plan to hold new general elections as soon
as possible to end political deadlock between his Fatah organisation and the
more radical Hamas group of the Palestinian prime minister, Ismael Haniyeh.
As the pair spoke, forces loyal to Fatah and those from Hamas continued to
exchange gunfire, a day after the worst factional fighting among the
Palestinians for 10 years.
Shots were exchanged today outside Mr Abbas's residence in Gaza City, as well as
near the Hamas-controlled foreign ministry building. However, the battles were
more sporadic thanks to a truce agreed last night, in the wake of intense
battles that killed three people.
Mr Blair, who arrived in Jerusalem from Baghdad yesterday, is part-way through
an intensive Middle East tour, seen as a final personal push for peace in the
region by the prime minister before his expected departure from Downing Street
next year.
Standing alongside Mr Abbas in the Muqata compound following talks, Mr Blair
urged international backing for the Palestinian president.
"Now is the time for the international community to respond to the vision you
have set out and I intend to do everything I can over the next period of time,
and in particular over the coming weeks, to make sure we can deliver that
support," the prime minister said. "I hope we will be in a position over these
coming weeks to put together an initiative that allows that support for
reconstruction and development and to alleviate the plight and suffering of the
Palestinian people and also, crucially, give a political framework to move
forward to a two-state solution.
"I hope and believe that can be done."
Mr Blair also warned that Hamas, which has a majority in the Palestinian
parliament and holds the prime ministership following elections early this year,
would not be allowed to exercise a "veto over negotiations with Israel and
progress towards peace".
Hamas, which the US and EU consider a terrorist group, refuses to recognise
Israel.
Mr Abbas announced on Saturday that he wants elections as soon as possible,
following a deadlock after months of talks trying to secure Hamas support for a
national unity government. Hamas has denounced the plan as an attempted coup.
Speaking today, Mr Abbas said he would push ahead with new elections.
"We are going to hold early elections, parliamentary and presidential. There is
nothing we can see that can stop us," he said.
"We are a democratic people, so let's go to the people," he said. "We want to
examine the will of the people. Do they still trust those they have chosen?"
Abbas also warned that the situation in the Palestinian territories was
"dangerous" following a week of violence between warring militants from Hamas
and Fatah.
Among a series of battles yesterday, masked men attacked a training camp in Gaza
used by the presidential guard, which is loyal to Mr Abbas. One guard was killed
and five others were injured.
A few hours later, gunmen attacked a convoy of cars carrying the Hamas foreign
minister, Mahmoud Zahar, sparking a gun battle in the streets of Gaza City.
Hamas promptly accused Fatah of mounting an assassination attempt. Then large
numbers of Fatah gunmen poured on to the streets near the house that Mr Abbas
uses when he visits Gaza, although yesterday he was still in Ramallah.
In Iraq yesterday, Mr Blair held talks with political leaders and met some of
the 7,000 British troops stationed in the country.
Lord Levy, Mr Blair's special envoy to the Middle East, and among those
questioned by police in connection with the cash-for-honours inquiry, has joined
the prime minister for this leg of the tour and is thought to have held talks
with Israeli officials.
After leaving a two-day EU summit in Brussels on Friday, Mr Blair began his tour
in Turkey before going to Egypt.
Abbas
receives Blair's backing, G, 18.12.2006,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1974728,00.html
2pm
Blair: Iran is major threat
Tuesday December 12, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Matthew Tempest, political correspondent
Tony Blair today made his strongest attack yet on the
Iranian government, declaring that President Ahmadinejad's government was a
"major strategic threat" to the Middle East.
Despite calls from the James Baker-led Iraq Study Group for
direct talks with Tehran and Damascus, Mr Blair said there was "little point" in
including Iran and Syria in regional issues "unless they are prepared to be
constructive".
Ahead of his own trip to the Middle East before Christmas, Mr Blair repeated
that as his premiership drew to a close he still regarded it as the most
important issue facing the world.
The prime minister repeatedly reiterated his personal revulsion at the current
conference, sponsored by the Tehran government, on the reality of the Holocaust,
calling it "disgusting, unbelievable and shocking".
Speaking at his final monthly press conference of 2006, the PM said Mr
Ahmadinejad s government was "deliberately causing maximum problems for moderate
governments and for ourselves in the region - in Palestine, in Lebanon and in
Iraq".
"There is no point in hiding the fact that Iran poses a major strategic threat
to the cohesion of the entire region," Mr Blair told reporters.
Mr Blair said that he found the conference organised by Iran which questioned
existence of the Holocaust "shocking beyond belief".
"To go and invite the former head of the Ku Klux Klan to a conference in Tehran
which disputes the millions of people who died in the Holocaust, what further
evidence do you need to have that this regime is extreme?" he asked.
He told a journalist from Israeli radio that the conference was a "disgusting"
affront to the millions of families who lost relatives in the Holocaust. It was
"such a symbol of sectarianism and hatred towards a people" he added.
More than half the hour-long press conference focused on the Middle East, with
Mr Blair quizzed on whether the UK could withdraw from Iraq in advance of the
US, or in tandem with it.
He said the situation for UK troops in Basra was different from that for US
troops in Baghdad, where there was more sectarian violence, but the UK
withdrawal would not be affected by US decisions.
"If and when they [US troops] are able to change the situation in Baghdad, then
they too will be in a different set of circumstances, but the pace at which both
of those things may happen may be different," Mr Blair said.
Mr Blair said it was still the intention to withdraw British troops once Iraqi
authorities were able to take over.
"I certainly do not take the study group as saying that we should get out, come
what may.
"What they are saying is that we have to increase our driving up of the
capability of the Iraqi forces, because it's obviously better that the Iraqis
themselves take responsibility and indeed the Iraqi government is increasingly
saying it wants to take responsibility.
"Then the coalition forces will still be in a support role but it won't be the
same as it is at the moment."
Asked about apparent UK opposition to the US policy of early de-Ba'athification
of Iraq after the invasion, Mr Blair said the problems in Iraq were deliberately
being caused by people opposed to the democratic process, and any decision on
de-Ba'athification would not have changed that.
On the wider Israeli-Palestinian question, Mr Blair rejected comparisons of the
peace process, where the UK government talked to Sinn Féin and the Democratic
Unionists even at times when they refused to recognise each other.
"It is very difficult to see how you can negotiate with Hamas in circumstances
where they are saying emphatically 'we deny the right of Israel to exist'," he
said.
"There has to be a genuine willingness on their part - or at least on the parts
of elements of Hamas - to engage in a meaningful way with Israel and I don't
notice that at the moment."
Mr Blair said Hamas was being "deliberately unhelpful".
"It is one thing to have a position about Israel which is your formal position
... but if you look at what they have been saying over the past few days it
sounds to me, I am afraid, deliberately unhelpful.
"If you add up what has been said over the last few days about Israel - and not
always in answer to a question either - then it's quite difficult to see what
the way forward is."
The prime minister said he hoped to use his visit to make clear what the
Palestinians could expect in return for progress.
"It is important for us to say very clearly 'this is what we will do if you are
prepared to accept that any negotiation on two states must be on the basis of
mutual respect and mutual recognition.
"One of the things I want to do in the course of the visit is to spell out
exactly what we would do in those circumstances, for the Palestinians, including
in respect of Hamas."
Blair: Iran is
major threat, G, 12.12.2006,
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,,1970451,00.html
'London's bridge is falling down'
Damning verdict on one-sided US-UK relations after Iraq
State Department official says Blair is ignored by Bush
November 30, 2006
The Times
Tom Baldwin in Washington and Philip Webster, Political Editor
In a devastating verdict on Tony Blair’s decision to back
war in Iraq and his “totally one-sided” relationship with President Bush, a US
State Department official has said that Britain’s role as a bridge between
America and Europe is now “disappearing before our eyes”.
Kendall Myers, a senior State Department analyst, disclosed that for all
Britain’s attempts to influence US policy in recent years, “we typically ignore
them and take no notice — it’s a sad business”.
He added that he felt “a little ashamed” at Mr Bush’s treatment of the Prime
Minister, who had invested so much of his political capital in standing shoulder
to shoulder with America after 9/11.
Speaking at an academic forum in Washington on Tuesday night, he answered a
question from The Times, saying: “It was a done deal from the beginning, it was
a onesided relationship that was entered into with open eyes . . . there was
nothing. There was no payback, no sense of reciprocity.”
His remarks brought calls from British politicians last night for the special
relationship to be rethought, but also attracted scathing criticism from one
close supporter of the Prime Minister.
Dr Myers had hard words for his own Administration’s record in the Iraq war:
“It’s a bad time, let’s face it. We have not only failed to do what we wanted to
do in Iraq but we have greatly strained our relationship with [Britain].”
Dr Myers, a specialist in British politics, predicted that the tight bond
between Mr Bush and Mr Blair would not be replicated in the future. “What I
think and fear is that Britain will draw back from the US without moving closer
to Europe. In that sense London’s bridge is falling down.”
The extraordinarily frank remarks will be seen as further evidence of the
long-standing unease felt within some parts of the State Department over the
direction of White House policy. They may also be an indication of the weakness
of President Bush as he struggles to stop Iraq sliding into civil war and faces
a Democrat-dominated Congress elected this month.
Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: “These remarks reflect
a real sense of distaste among thinking Americans for Mr Blair’s apparent
slavish support for President Bush . . . The special relationship needs to be
rebalanced, rethought and renewed.”
But Denis MacShane, Labour MP for Rotherham and a former Foreign Office
minister, who supported the Iraq war, said: “After the Republican defeat in the
midterm election, every little rat who feasted during the Bush years is now
leaving the ship. I would respect this gentleman, who I have never heard of, if
he had had the guts to make any of these points two or five years ago.”
Last night Dr Myers, who is thought to have attended the discussions over the
infamous Downing Street memo in 2002 before the Iraq war, was disowned by the
State Department. Terry Davidson, a spokesman, said: “The US-UK relationship is
indeed a special one. The US and the UK work together, along with our allies in
Europe and across the world, on every issue imaginable. The views expressed by
Mr Myers do not represent the views of the US Government. He was speaking as an
academic, not as a representative of the State Department.”
Privately, US officials are furious about the comments made by a man not even
involved in the policymaking process, which can only rock relations at a time of
high-wire tension in international diplomacy. Dr Myers himself was said to be
considering early retirement.
He said on Tuesday that Mr Blair had been left “ruined for all time” by the Iraq
war and that if he had “only read a book” on the last British invasion of Iraq
in the 1920s, “he might have hesitated”.
'London's bridge
is falling down', Ts, 30.11.2006,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2478925,00.html
Man freed after 18 years on death row in Pakistan
reunited with family in Britain
· Blair and prince thanked for helping in release
· Family of dead driver angry at intervention
Saturday November 18, 2006
Guardian
Jeevan Vasagar and Lee Glendinning
A British man who spent 18 years on death row in Pakistan
returned home last night after he was spared hanging and freed from prison.
After four stays of execution, Mirza Tahir Hussain, 36, was reunited with his
family at Heathrow airport.
Looking bewildered and weary, Mr Hussain, accompanied by
his brother, Amjad Hussain, spoke of the trauma of his long imprisonment. "It
has been a tremendous strain to be separated from my family and loved ones," he
said in a statement read on his behalf by the MEP Sajjad Haider Karim. "I thank
God for giving me the faith and strength to persevere."
He thanked the Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf, who granted him clemency,
the Prince of Wales, who raised the issue on a recent trip to Pakistan, Tony
Blair, Margaret Beckett, human rights groups and others who sought his release.
Mr Hussain, from Leeds, had been sentenced to hanging by a sharia court, despite
being acquitted of the murder of a taxi driver, Jamshed Khan, by Pakistan's
highest civilian court.
"Freedom is a great gift," his statement continued. "I want to use this freedom
to get to know my family again, to adjust back to living here and to come to
terms with my ordeal."
He asked the media to give him the space and peace to do this, and said his
thoughts were with the prisoners he had left behind in Pakistan.
At an earlier press conference in London, Amjad Hussain, who campaigned for his
brother's release throughout his imprisonment, said his mother could not believe
she was about to see her son again. "She told me: 'I want to have physical
possession of him and hold him in my arms - I will believe it when I see him'."
Police in Pakistan are accused of torturing Mr Hussain and of framing him after
he killed the driver who, he claims, tried to rob him at gunpoint. The family of
the dead taxi driver are furious about his release. "We've waited 18 years for
justice but unfortunately all our hopes were shattered with the stroke of a
pen," said the driver's uncle, Sohbat Khan.
"It was all done under pressure," he said. "Tony Blair and Prince Charles have
both pressed Pakistan to show mercy to Mr Hussain."
Human rights groups said Mr Hussain was the victim of a miscarriage of justice,
as did a dissenting judge in the Islamic court that convicted him. After he had
spent seven years in jail the Lahore high court quashed his murder conviction.
But an Islamic court took over the case and sentenced him to death for highway
robbery. Pakistan's supreme court upheld the verdict in 2004, paving the way for
his execution. May 3 was set for the execution but this was postponed after
representations from his lawyers and the British government.
The crime took place while Mr Hussain was on holiday in Pakistan in 1988 and
took a taxi to his family village of Bhubar.
Mr Hussain, 18 at the time, claims that during the journey the driver stopped
the car and tried to beat him and sexually assault him.
The driver produced a gun, he says, and as Mr Hussain fought for his life, the
gun went off and fatally wounded the driver.
On Thursday the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by Mr
Musharraf, and yesterday he was freed.
Tim Hancock, of Amnesty International UK, said the death penalty was used with
"frightening regularity" in Pakistan, where there are 7,000 people on death row.
Catherine Wolthuizen, director of Fair Trials Abroad, said the case was deeply
flawed. "The double jeopardy, the fabrication of evidence and the imposition of
the death penalty all made it problematic."
17 years under sentence of death
1988 Mirza Hussain visits Pakistan on holiday. Taxi driver
Jamshed Khan is fatally injured in a struggle
1989 Mr Hussain is convicted of murder and sentenced to death
1992 The death sentence is overturned on appeal and he is sentenced to life in
jail. The family of the taxi driver rejects an offer of £18,000 for a pardon
1996 The Lahore high court overturns his conviction but a sharia court tries him
for highway robbery
1998 He is convicted by the sharia court, though one judge out of three
dissents. He is sentenced to death by hanging
2004 The supreme court upholds the verdict, paving the way for his execution
May 3 2006 He is due to be executed but it is postponed after representations
from his lawyers and the British government
May 24 President Pervez Musharraf grants a one-month stay of execution. Sentence
is delayed after an appeal by Margaret Beckett, the foreign secretary
August 4 He faces execution but the sentence is delayed again
October 1 Sentence is delayed again
October 19 A two-month stay of execution is ordered as Prince Charles warns he
may cancel a visit to Pakistan
October 30 Prince Charles raises the case with Gen Musharraf
November 16 Gen Musharraf pardons Mr Hussain
Yesterday He is freed to fly back to London
Man freed after 18
years on death row in Pakistan reunited with family in Britain, G, 18.11.2006,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,1951106,00.html
2pm update
Pardoned Briton released from Pakistani jail
Friday November 17, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Agencies
A Briton who has been on death row in Pakistan for 18 years
was today released from prison two days after the country's president granted
him clemency.
On Wednesday, Pervez Musharraf ordered that the death
sentence imposed on Mirza Tahir Hussain for the alleged murder of a taxi driver
should be commuted to life behind bars.
Aftab Khan Sherpao, the Pakistani interior minister, today announced that
Hussain, from Leeds, was released this morning.
Hussain's family said they were "overjoyed" by the news. His 38-year-old
brother, Amjad, said he was grateful to President Musharraf for commuting his
brother's death sentence and his brother's return would be a "joyous occasion"
for the family.
Speaking at a press conference in London, he also thanked Tony Blair, the Prince
of Wales, non-governmental organisations and human rights groups who had become
involved in his brother's case.
Amjad Hussain said his brother had "paid a terrible price for something he never
did". He added: "It's been a terrible nightmare and ordeal."
Under Pakistan's sentencing rules, a life sentence is equivalent to 14 ears -
meaning Hussain had served his time, an official from Gen Musharraf's office
said.
Hussain, 36, was being held at the high-security Adiala prison in Rawalpindi,
near Islamabad. He is still in Pakistan, but is expected to return to Britain
soon.
Prince Charles, who raised Hussain's case with President Musharraf during a
recent visit to Pakistan, was "very pleased" with the decision, his office at
Clarence House said.
The Pakistani president last month granted Hussain a fourth stay of execution by
hanging, postponing it until December 31. However, repeated calls for the Briton
to be released had been rejected until now.
Hussain admits killing taxi driver Jamshed Khan days after arriving in Pakistan
in 1988, but claims the man tried to sexually assault him and that a gun went
off during their struggle.
He drove the cab and the body to a police station, where he was arrested.
Hussain was convicted and sentenced to death in 1989 for murder, and then
acquitted by a higher court in 1996.
However, an Islamic court overturned the acquittal and convicted him of armed
robbery, sentencing him to death in 1998 - a penalty that, by law, must be
carried out unless the victim's family decides to pardon him.
The taxi driver's family denounced Gen Musharraf's decision, saying they had not
pardoned Hussain.
"We got justice from the courts, but Musharraf unilaterally changed the court's
decision to appease his foreign masters," the driver's uncle, Sohbat Khan, said.
The Khan family's lawyer, Malik Rab Nawaz, said Hussain's release was a
"complete injustice", adding that they would be seeking to get the order
suspended.
Greg Mulholland, the Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West, said it was
"wonderful news" that Hussain was now a free man.
"Mirza Tahir and his family have spent 18 long years waiting for this moment,"
he said. "We are now waiting to hear when he'll be allowed to get on that plane
and return home to Leeds.
"He is still in the jurisdiction of the Pakistani authorities. Now it's a
question of doing the paperwork and carrying out the formalities."
Mr Mulholland has been at the forefront of the campaign to save Hussain, which
has gathered pace throughout the year.
Pardoned Briton
released from Pakistani jail, G, 17.11.2006,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,1950409,00.html
9.15am
Pakistani leader spares Briton's life
Thursday November 16, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
James Sturcke and agencies
A British man facing execution in Pakistan after being
convicted of murdering a taxi driver had his sentence commuted today.
Mirza Hussain will instead serve a life sentence after the
Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf, ordered that he be spared the death
penalty, government officials said.
Hussain may be eligible for release on parole because he has already spent 18
years in prison. The decision came just weeks after the Prince of Wales raised
the Briton's plight with the president during a visit to Pakistan.
Tony Blair, who is due to visit Pakistan on Saturday, has also expressed concern
about the case and several human rights organisations have appealed to General
Musharraf to pardon Hussain, 36, whose execution was postponed repeatedly.
The foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, arriving in Downing Street this morning
for the weekly cabinet meeting, said she was very pleased to hear the news. Mrs
Beckett thanked Gen Musharraf and said that Prince Charles, among others, had
played a significant role in securing the reprieve.
Catherine Wolthuizen, the chief executive of Fair Trials Abroad, said she was
"delighted" with the announcement.
"He's already served the equivalent of at least one or two life sentences and I
very much hope this could see him returned home very soon," she said. "He was
the victim of a grave miscarriage of justice which has been recognised by the
Pakistan government."
Ms Wolthuizen said her organisation had been working closely with Hussain's
family and campaigning with other organisations to secure his release.
A Foreign Office spokesman said the British government had not been officially
notified of the decision but was encouraged by the reports. "We welcome reports
from the government of Pakistan that Mr Hussain's sentence has been commuted to
life on humanitarian grounds. We have not yet been officially notified of the
decision."
Hussain was convicted of murdering Jamshed Khan in 1988 and has been in a prison
near the capital Islamabad ever since. He was to be hanged after December 31
2006 when a stay of execution granted by the president ended.
The former Territorial Army soldier was just 18 when he left West Yorkshire to
visit relatives in Pakistan.
Three days after flying out from Heathrow, Hussain caught a train from his
aunt's home in Karachi to Rawalpindi, where he took a taxi for the journey to
his family in the village of Bhubar.
Later that night Hussain led police to the body of the driver, who had been shot
dead. He told them that the driver had tried to sexually assault him and pulled
a gun, and that during a struggle the weapon went off and killed the driver.
His murder conviction was quashed by the high court in Pakistan but he was then
retried under religious laws in an Islamic court and sentenced to death by a
two-to-one majority.
The execution has been postponed several times - most recently from November 1
until New Year's Eve.
The chairman of the European parliament's Friends of Pakistan Group, Sajjad
Karim, who led a delegation of MEPs to lobby Gen Musharraf earlier this year,
said he was hopeful the Briton would be home soon.
The MEP told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that, according to a Pakistani
senator who has taken an interest in the case, a life sentence in the country
generally results in around 14 years in jail, with time off for good behaviour.
"Mirza Hussain has done in excess of 18 years in custody," said Mr Karim.
"Therefore the next step we will be pushing for is an immediate release.
Hopefully, Mirza will be returning back home to Leeds very, very soon."
Mr Karim told Sky News that he believed Prince Charles' efforts to prevent the
death sentence being carried out had had a "very positive effect".
Last month Hussain's family said they hoped his suffering could finally be
brought to a close. His brother Amjad said the case was a "serious miscarriage
of justice" and Hussan had endured a "nightmare".
The issue of securing Hussain's release was highly sensitive as critics have
branded Gen Musharraf a western puppet. The president has never commuted a death
penalty decision made in the Sharia court before.
In government circles over the past few weeks, the focus was said to be on
trying to find a legal way for Gen Musharraf to grant clemency.
The MEP Edward McMillan-Scott, who has campaigned for Hussain's release, said
Gen Musharraf had made a number of "private assurances" to him when the pair met
in Brussels last month.
Mr McMillan-Scott, who represents Yorkshire and the Humber, said he planned to
travel to Pakistan on December 15 to try to ensure Hussain was home for
Christmas.
He said: "I am delighted with the news. It reflects promises made by Musharraf
to myself during his visit to Brussels last month. I have been working with the
family to secure Hussain's release and was planning a last minute plea next
month which will now become a plea for his return to Leeds for Christmas."
Pakistani leader
spares Briton's life, G, 16.11.2006,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,1949188,00.html
British believe Bush is more dangerous than Kim Jong-il
· US allies think Washington threat to world peace
· Only Bin Laden feared more in United Kingdom
Friday November 3, 2006
Guardian
Julian Glover
America is now seen as a threat to world peace by its
closest neighbours and allies, according to an international survey of public
opinion published today that reveals just how far the country's reputation has
fallen among former supporters since the invasion of Iraq.
Carried out as US voters prepare to go to the polls next
week in an election dominated by the war, the research also shows that British
voters see George Bush as a greater danger to world peace than either the North
Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, or the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Both
countries were once cited by the US president as part of an "axis of evil", but
it is Mr Bush who now alarms voters in countries with traditionally strong links
to the US.
The survey has been carried out by the Guardian in Britain and leading
newspapers in Israel (Haaretz), Canada (La Presse and Toronto Star) and Mexico
(Reforma), using professional local opinion polling in each country.
It exposes high levels of distrust. In Britain, 69% of those questioned say they
believe US policy has made the world less safe since 2001, with only 7% thinking
action in Iraq and Afghanistan has increased global security.
The finding is mirrored in America's immediate northern and southern neighbours,
Canada and Mexico, with 62% of Canadians and 57% of Mexicans saying the world
has become more dangerous because of US policy.
Even in Israel, which has long looked to America to guarantee national security,
support for the US has slipped.
Only one in four Israeli voters say that Mr Bush has made the world safer,
outweighed by the number who think he has added to the risk of international
conflict, 36% to 25%. A further 30% say that at best he has made no difference.
Voters in three of the four countries surveyed also overwhelmingly reject the
decision to invade Iraq, with only Israeli voters in favour, 59% to 34% against.
Opinion against the war has hardened strongly since a similar survey before the
US presidential election in 2004.
In Britain 71% of voters now say the invasion was unjustified, a view shared by
89% of Mexicans and 73% of Canadians. Canada is a Nato member whose troops are
in action in Afghanistan. Neither do voters think America has helped advance
democracy in developing countries, one of the justifications for deposing Saddam
Hussein. Only 11% of Britons and 28% of Israelis think that has happened.
As a result, Mr Bush is ranked with some of his bitterest enemies as a cause of
global anxiety. He is outranked by Osama bin Laden in all four countries, but
runs the al-Qaida leader close in the eyes of UK voters: 87% think the al-Qaida
leader is a great or moderate danger to peace, compared with 75% who think this
of Mr Bush.
The US leader and close ally of Tony Blair is seen in Britain as a more
dangerous man than the president of Iran (62% think he is a danger), the North
Korean leader (69%) and the leader of Hizbullah, Hassan Nasrallah (65%).
Only 10% of British voters think that Mr Bush poses no danger at all. Israeli
voters remain much more trusting of him, with 23% thinking he represents a
serious danger and 61% thinking he does not.
Contrary to the usual expectation, older voters in Britain are slightly more
hostile to the Iraq war than younger ones. Voters under 35 are also more
trusting of Mr Bush, with hostility strongest among people aged 35-65.
· ICM interviewed a random sample of 1,010 adults by telephone from October
27-30. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been
weighted to the profile of all adults. Polling was by phone in Canada (sample
1,007), Israel (1,078) and Mexico (1,010)
British believe
Bush is more dangerous than Kim Jong-il, G, 3.11.2006,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1938434,00.html
Blair's Syrian peace initiative fails to impress
· Israel and US sceptical of progress from envoy's trip
· Labour conference lunch prompted mission
Thursday November 2, 2006
Guardian
Ewen MacAskill, diplomatic editor
The governments of Israel and the US responded coolly
yesterday to Tony Blair's secret diplomatic initiative to urge Syria to restart
Middle East peace talks. Mr Blair, who has pledged to devote the remainder of
his premiership to tackling the region's conflict, sent his senior envoy, Sir
Nigel Sheinwald, to meet the Syrian president in Damascus on Monday.
Shimon Peres, Israel's deputy prime minister, said in
London: "I wouldn't like to make any remarks about British movements [but] I'm
sceptical, not because of Britain but because of the Syrians."
He said the Syrian government had repeatedly spurned Israeli offers of peace
talks and he accused Syria of helping Hamas and Hizbullah, two groups that
Israel regards as being based on terrorism.
The White House also distanced itself from Mr Blair's initiative. Tony Snow,
George Bush's press secretary, said the administration was concerned over what
it called mounting evidence that Syria and Iran were joining Hizbullah to try to
topple the Lebanese government through demonstrations, violence and threats
against Lebanese leaders.
The White House, responding to calls to engage with Syria and Iran, reiterated
last week that it had no plans to open a dialogue with either Damascus or
Tehran.
Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, and Sir Nigel spoke at their meeting
mainly about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Lebanese ceasefire, which
is still holding after Israel's offensive this summer against Hizbullah. Downing
Street believes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Lebanese conflict are
connected. They also discussed tightening the Syrian-Iraqi border to stem the
flow of jihadists travelling to confront US troops and the Iraqi security
forces.
The visit marks a significant shift in British foreign policy. Britain made a
big effort to win over Mr Assad after he became leader in 2000, inviting him on
a state visit to the UK. But a return visit to Damascus by Mr Blair ended badly
when the Syrian president gave him a public lecture. The mission this week was
supposed to be secret but Ibrahim Hamidi, a journalist on the London-based
Al-Hayat daily paper, disclosed on Tuesday that the talks had taken place.
Mr Blair is planning to visit the Middle East before the end of the year. But a
British official said yesterday he was not likely to include Damascus.
A spokesman for the prime minister's office said that Syria had always faced a
choice and that it could "play a constructive role in international affairs [or]
continue to support terrorism". He added: "The key question is what choice does
it make?"
The idea of the Damascus mission apparently originated at the Labour conference
where Mr Blair held an annual lunch for ambassadors. The meeting was sparsely
attended and Mr Blair spoke on the sidelines with a Syrian official.
Mr Peres said yesterday that Israel, which is still technically at war with
Syria, would like to negotiate with Mr Assad but not while he supported Hamas
and Hizbullah and while he demanded the return of the Golan Heights, captured by
Israel during the 1967 war, as a pre-condition for talks.
He said Israel had tried five times since the 1990s to discuss peace terms. "I
for one would like to see us negotiating with the Syrians, but again the Syrians
are having a double approach. They are hosting in Syria the leadership of Hamas,
the most extreme part of it. They are helping Hizbullah and we are suspicious
they are continuing to supply Hamas with arms. And ... they're talking about
peace, but with reservations. They say they are for peace but they would not
like to meet the Israelis. How can you do it? You can not make peace by proxy."
Mr Peres, asked if he supported the idea of Britain having closer relations with
Syria, said: "Frankly, we support the engagement by the quartet [the US, the UN,
Russia and the EU]. I believe it will be very hard to have any negotiations
without American participation." He added that Syria wanted the US to negotiate
but that "the Americans don't feel that the Syrians are clear and honest".
Blair's Syrian
peace initiative fails to impress, G, 2.11.2006,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/syria/story/0,,1937153,00.html
A time for clemency
Pakistan must reconsider the scheduled hanging of a Briton
October 20, 2006
The Times
Leading articles
The announcement that the hanging of a Briton, convicted of
murder in Pakistan, has been postponed until November 1 offers a glimmer of hope
that a way may be found to resolve a case that has become a cause célèbre. Mirza
Tahir Hussain, from Leeds, was sentenced to death for killing a taxi driver 18
years ago, and has been on death row since June. But the Pakistani Government
has stayed his execution from month to month to give his relatives more time to
persuade the victim’s family to pardon him in return for compensation.
The case has attracted considerable attention because of the decision to retry
him in a religious court after he had been acquitted in a civil one, and because
of the increasingly high- profile calls for clemency by Western politicians and
public figures. The latest intervention comes from the Prince of Wales, who is
scheduled to arrive in Pakistan with the Duchess of Cornwall three days before
Mr Hussain was due to be hanged. The Prince has written to Shaukat Aziz, the
Pakistani Prime Minister, appealing for clemency, a call earlier voiced by Tony
Blair and by the European Parliament.
Intervening in the legal proceedings of other countries, especially in criminal
cases, is fraught with risk. There is an understandable wish to save the life of
a fellow citizen, but rarely is there complete access to all the facts presented
to the court. Campaigners do not help their case by assuming that the quality of
justice must be lower in the developing world than it is in Britain.
This particular case, however, raises questions that are worrying when viewed
from any legal perspective. The first is the confusion that arises from having a
dual system of justice, providing for trial by civil as well as religious
courts. Mr Hussain contends that he killed the taxi driver in self- defence
during an attempted sexual assault when he arrived in the country at the age of
18. In September 1989, he was sentenced to death, but the High Court ordered a
retrial in 1992. In 1994, a sessions court sentenced him to life imprisonment.
In 1996 the High Court acquitted him of murder, but a month later the case was
referred to the Federal Sharia Court. By two votes to one, he was sentenced to
death. The Supreme Sharia Court rejected his subsequent appeal.
The second issue is that of compensation. Under Islamic law, a murderer may be
released if the victim’s family accepts payment. The driver’s family did so, but
then changed its mind. A substantial sum has now been offered, but the case
seems to be mired in unseemly bargaining.
All this suggests a very strong case for clemency: on questions of both evidence
and process there is too much room for uncertainty. President Musharraf told Mr
Blair that he had no power to intervene. But Pakistan’s state prosecutor has
cited Article 45 of the Constitution as giving the President “absolute powers to
pardon”. An execution soon after the Prince of Wales leaves the country would
not be just, nor would it enhance the international reputation of Pakistan.
A time for
clemency, Ts, 20.10.2006,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,542-2412756,00.html
Pakistan warned royal visit will be scrapped if Briton's
life not spared
· Prince Charles and Blair put pressure on Musharraf
· Man cleared by court due to die after 17 jears in jail
Thursday October 19, 2006
Guardian
Vikram Dodd
Prince Charles will have no choice but to pull out of his
planned visit to Pakistan unless the threatened execution of a British man is
postponed, the Guardian has been told. Tahir Mirza Hussain is due to be hanged
for murder on November 1, three days after the Prince of Wales and the Duchess
of Cornwall are due to arrive in Pakistan for a state visit.
Hussain is originally from Leeds and was cleared by a court
of murdering a cab driver, only to be found guilty by judges operating under
Islamic law.
A spokesman for the prince confirmed that the heir to the throne had written to
Pakistan's prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, asking that Hussain's life be spared.
Whitehall sources told the Guardian it would be unthinkable for the prince to go
to Pakistan if it was still planning to hang a British citizen.
Tony Blair said yesterday it would be "very serious" if the execution went
ahead, and said he had personally pleaded for mercy for Hussain with Pakistan's
president, Pervez Musharraf. It is expected that Britain will this week write to
Pakistani officials for a stay of execution.
Mr Blair sidestepped a question from the MP for the Hussain family, Greg
Mulholland, who demanded that he announce that the prince's trip would be
cancelled unless Pakistan backed down.
The visit is seen as highly important for relations between Britain and
Pakistan, whose regime is being buffeted by Islamist radicals.
Prince Charles is scheduled to meet Mr Musharraf two days before the planned
execution. The president has the power to postpone the death sentence, commute
it to life imprisonment, or issue a pardon.
The prince travels abroad as an "emissary" of the government and takes advice
from the Foreign Office. His trip is being arranged by his deputy private
secretary, Clive Alderton, who is seconded from the Foreign Office. A spokesman
for the prince said yesterday: "The prince has been concerned about this case
for some time and has raised it with the [Pakistani] prime minister." The
decision to make known the fact that the prince wrote pleading for Hussain's
life to be spared is part of a government strategy is to make it clear to
Pakistan how seriously it takes the matter, without backing Islamabad into a
corner.
Hussain, 36, has been on death row for 17 years and protests his innocence. He
admits killing a taxi driver days after he arrived in Pakistan, but claims that
the man tried to sexually assault him and that a gun went off during their
struggle.
During prime minister's questions yesterday, Mr Blair said: "We have raised this
constantly with the Pakistani authorities. I raised it personally with President
Musharraf a couple of weeks ago. I hope even at this stage that there is an
intervention to ensure this does not take place. It would be very serious if it
does."
Mr Mulholland, the Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West, said: "For this
unjust execution to go ahead anyway would be bad enough, but to do this when
Prince Charles is visiting the country would be monstrous. Cancelling the visit
will send a clear and powerful message to the Pakistani authorities."
Hussain is in jail in Rawalpindi, and has received three stays of execution.
The condemned man's brother, Amjad Hussain, called on Prince Charles to scrap
the trip unless the death sentence was lifted: "It would be an insult to his
royal highness to execute him while he was there, after his pleas had fallen on
deaf ears," Hussain's brother said.
Pakistan warned
royal visit will be scrapped if Briton's life not spared, G, 19.10.2006,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,1925726,00.html
Last-minute pleas to save Briton from execution
October 17, 2006
The Times
By David Brown
A BRITISH man will be hanged in two weeks after being
convicted under Islamic religious law of the murder of a taxi driver.
Mirza Tahir Hussain, 36, is due to be executed on November 1 despite the
quashing by Pakistan’s High Court of his conviction for the killing 18 years
ago.
His brother, Amjad Hussain, and Amnesty International called on President
Musharraf yesterday to halt the execution immediately.
Mr Hussain said: “This is now a matter of utmost urgency as time is fast running
out for my brother. There are now only 16 days until Mirza could face death by
execution.
“President Musharraf does have the power to step in and stop the execution of an
innocent man and he should exercise it. My brother’s trial was unfair and his
detention in Pakistan for the last 18 years has had a devastating impact on all
our lives.”
Mirza Hussain, a former Territorial Army soldier from Leeds, was acquitted of
murder at the High Court in Lahore in 1996.
A week later his case was referred to the Federal Sharia Court for consideration
under Islamic law. It reversed the decision of the High Court and sentenced
Hussain to death.
Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK, said: “The Pakistani justice
system is riddled with serious deficiencies and should never allow executions.
“The death penalty is always cruel and unnecessary and doesn’t deter crime, but
in Pakistan it is being applied after deeply dubious trials.”
Hussain was 18 when he left West Yorkshire in December 1988 to visit relatives
in Pakistan. Three days after flying out from Heathrow, he took a train from his
aunt’s home in Karachi to Rawalpindi, where he took a taxi for the journey to
his family in the village of Bhubar.
Later that night, Hussain led police to the body of the driver, who had been
shot dead, and told them that the driver had tried to sexually assault him and
pulled a gun, and that during a struggle the weapon went off and killed the
driver.
A stay of execution expired at dawn on October 1, but under Muslim culture
nobody is executed during the period of Ramadan, which runs until October 24.
This month Hussain told The Times from his prison cell: “I’m looking forward to
ending this whole thing one way or another. Mentally one reaches such a state
they we need some decisions.”
Jack Straw, the Leader of the House of Commons, said last week: “Representations
at the very highest level of the British Government have been made to President
Musharraf and to other appropriate ministers in his Government.”
Catherine Wolthuizen, chief executive of Fair Trials Abroad, said President
Musharraf must use his powers to quash the death sentence.
“President Musharraf holds Mirza Tahir’s life in his hands,” she said. “After 18
years in prison and only two weeks before his planned execution, how much longer
will Mirza Tahir have to wait for relief?”
Last-minute pleas
to save Briton from execution, Ts, 17.10.2006,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2406894,00.html
Bush, Australian PM Discuss North Korea
October 12, 2006
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:27 p.m. ET
The New York Times
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush, pursuing a diplomatic
solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis, spoke with Australian Prime
Minister John Howard on Thursday and they agreed on the need for a strong U.N.
Security Council resolution to punish Pyongyang, a spokesman said.
Separately, Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan had a meeting in the Oval
Office and also conferred with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, national
security adviser Stephen Hadley and Assistant Secretary of State Christopher
Hill, deputy national security adviser J.D. Crouch told reporters.
Bush and Howard said that any resolution should be adopted under Chapter 7 of
the U.N. charter, which means it could be enforced militarily, National Security
Council spokesman Frederick Jones said.
Bush thanked Howard for Australia's response to both North Korea's missile test
in July and its announced nuclear test on Monday. The president noted the
leading position that both Australia and Japan are taking in implementing
sanctions against North Korea, Jones said.
The president also thanked Howard for ''the resolute commitment that the
Australian people have made to the cause of freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan,''
the spokesman said.
Crouch, talking to reporters who accompanied Bush on a trip to St. Louis, said
that meeting with the Chinese official went well.
''I think it's a positive sign that we all agree that we need a resolution and
that we need to go forward with strong measures,'' he said.
There was not a detailed discussion on specific elements of the resolution,
Crouch said, but he added that there was a ''broad understanding what there
needed to be was a strong response and I think that the details of those are
going to have to be negotiated.''
Bush, Australian
PM Discuss North Korea, NYT, 12.10.2006,
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-US-NKorea.html
12.45pm
Contact made with kidnapped oil workers
Friday October 6, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Paul Willis and agencies
The Foreign Office says contact had been made with seven
foreign oil workers - including four Britons - taken hostage in Nigeria, as
efforts continued today to secure their safe release.
Sources in Nigeria have spoken to one of the workers, who
reportedly confirmed that he and his colleagues were "OK", a Foreign Office
spokesman said.
The oil workers were snatched at gunpoint from a residential compound in the
country's southern Akwa Ibom state on Tuesday.
There have been unconfirmed reports that the kidnappers have demanded a £21m
ransom for the release of the Britons - £5.3m for each captive.
The four Britons are all believed to be from north-east Scotland. One of the
workers is Paul Smith, an engineer from Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, who had been
working in Nigeria for about a year.
The names of the other three Britons have yet to be released.
The Foreign Office has not revealed the nationality of the captured man spoken
to last night but it said further contact with the kidnappers was expected to
take place today.
"Intensive efforts are being made to secure the release of the workers," the
spokesman added.
The Nigerian military has carried out a series of raid on militants after the
deaths of 17 soldiers in the Niger delta. Militants claim government soldiers
destroyed a village in the raids.
Today the army launched a search and rescue mission to locate missing soldiers,
following the skirmishes earlier this week.
The country's president, Olusegun Obasanjo, was meeting today with security
chiefs as the spiralling crisis helped push petroleum prices higher worldwide.
Eighteen British nationals have been kidnapped this year in six separate
incidents. Kidnappings generally end peacefully, with hostages returned
unharmed.
Nigeria's police and armed forces have now cordoned off the compound where
Tuesday's kidnapping took place.
Three of the British men worked for Aberdeen-based Sparrows Offshore.
A spokesman for the firm said: "We are in constant contact with the families in
the UK and will be keeping them informed of developments."
Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer, although recent attacks by armed
groups have led to a drop of almost a quarter of the country's usual output.
Militants have blown up pipelines in attempts to further their demands for local
control of oil revenues by inhabitants of the oil-producing south.
Other groups have kidnapped oil workers to use as bargaining tools to put
pressure on oil companies to create jobs or improve benefits.
In January, rebels seized Nigel Watson-Clark and three other foreign workers
from an offshore oil platform. The former paratrooper had been about to return
home after spending four weeks patrolling oilfields when he was captured.
He was held by an armed gang for 19 days before finally being released.
Contact made with
kidnapped oil workers, G, 6.10.2006,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,,1889388,00.html
Death-row Briton who found faith pleads for mercy and
forgiveness
Our correspondent gained access to Rawalpindi's main prison
to meet a Leeds man still trying to prove his innocence of a 1988 murder
October 06, 2006
The Times
By Martin Fletcher
FROM his bare, concrete cell on Pakistan’s death row a
British citizen named Mirza-Tahir Hussain enjoys a surprisingly pleasant view
across a walled garden with a neat lawn bordered by flowering shrubs. It may be
the last sight that he has of this world.
Time is running out for Hussain, who is 36 and from Leeds. After 18 years in
Pakistani prisons, a bewildering series of trials and retrials and a desperate
campaign to save him that has attracted even Tony Blair’s support, he faces
execution within a month. One morning he will be blindfolded before dawn, taken
to the gallows in Rawalpindi Central Jail, and hanged for a murder of which he
insists he is innocent.
Hussain is still fighting, however. During a long, unauthorised interview inside
that prison yesterday, he passed The Times a handwritten appeal urging Mr Blair
to intervene with President Musharraf, calling on the Pakistani leader to
commute his sentence, and begging the family of his alleged victim to “show
mercy and forgive me” during Ramadan — “the month of forgiveness, compassion and
mercy”. He hopes that international pressure on Pakistan might yet save him, or
that the dead man’s relatives might relent and accept the tens of thousands of
pounds in “blood money” that his family has offered in return for a pardon under
Sharia.
But Hussain, who has spent half his life in prison, conceded that death would at
least put an end to his suffering. “I feel I’m on a life-support machine,” he
said. “I’m looking forward to ending this whole thing one way or another.
Mentally one reaches such a state that we need some decisions.”
Nor, having embraced Islam in prison, does he particularly fear the manner of
his looming execution. “It doesn’t matter, because as a Muslim such things are
already decided by almighty Allah — how we live and when we die and by which
method. The most important thing is that Allah is pleased with us when we meet
him, and not angry.”
Rawalpindi jail is a huge, high-walled complex that houses 5,200 inmates a few
miles outside the city and has signs for vistors that are sponsored, bizarrely,
by Pepsi. Each weekday morning hundreds of Pakistanis queue for hours to see
their imprisoned relatives; The Times gained access to Mr Hussain with
surprisingly little difficulty by posing as a family friend from Leeds.
Like the other visitors, we brought a bag of fruit and milk, and passed through
the security barriers with few real checks beyond a cursory frisking. Once
inside, we were led through well-tended gardens to the one-storey death-row
blocks, each built around a garden, where 484 condemned men await the noose. It
was grim, but less so than many an American death row.
In front of each cell there is a small forecourt enclosed by bars where the
prisoners can exercise for two hours a day, one in the morning and one in the
evening. That is where we found Hussain. He was squatting on the floor and
reading a book called The Most Beautiful Names of Allah brought to him — along
with newspapers, magazines such as Time and Newsweek, and the latest articles
about his case — by a British High Commission official who visits him weekly.
“Please sit down,” he said politely, gesturing towards a blue plastic stool. For
the next hour we chatted in the midday warmth about his case, his life in prison
and even English cricket.
Hussain shares Cell 72 with two other convicted murderers, who wear brown prison
uniforms. At one point he rose with obvious tiredness to his feet and pulled
back a rug across the door to show me the interior. It measured 12ft by 8ft.
There were two high windows, barred and glassless, and a basic hole-in-the-floor
latrine hidden behind a blanket. There are no beds — the inmates sleep on
blankets on the bare floor.
He said the twice-daily meals were not bad, and the prisoners had small stoves
on which they could cook food brought in from outside.
Once a keen cricketer, he still follows Yorkshire’s fortunes and listens to Test
matches on the radio. The “clash of civilisations” had extended even to cricket,
he joked at one point, referring to the ball- tampering row that aborted the
England-Pakistan Test in August.
But prison has taken its toll. Hussein looks much older than his 36 years. His
swept-back hair is turning grey and he has a long, white beard. He shuffles, and
complains of poor physical health and failing memory. He is now fluent in Urdu,
but speaks English with a Pakistani accent.
He is a far cry from the 18-year-old Yorkshire lad, a part-time member of the
Territorial Army, who left Leeds in December 1988 to visit relatives in
Pakistan. It was his first solo visit to the country of his birth, and after
flying to Karachi he took a train to Rawalpindi, and then a taxi to his
ancestral village.
During that last journey the driver, Jamshed Khan, was killed. Hussain claims
that Khan pulled a gun, tried to assault him and was shot in the ensuing
scuffle. Hussain drove the car to the nearest police post, but was promptly
arrested.
He was sentenced to death for murder in 1989, but in 1992 a High Court ordered a
retrial. In 1994 another court sentenced him to life imprisonment, but two years
later the High Court acquitted him. Before Hussain was freed, however, the High
Court referred his case to a Sharia court that claims jurisdiction over cases of
highway robbery. In that trial in 1998, one of the judges said that the visiting
Briton had been framed by police, who had lied in court. But Hussain was given
the death penalty by a two-to-one margin and the country’s Sharia Supreme Court
rejected subsequent appeals.
Hussain’s family has enlisted the support of MPs, MEPs and pressure groups
including Amnesty International. They have offered the driver’s family what his
elder brother, Amjad, describes as a “very substantial sum” — believed to be
approaching £100,000 — in blood money. Hussain said that the driver’s family —
from the Pathan tribe — initially accepted, then changed their minds. “It seems
someone intervened and said, ‘You’re selling your son’s blood and bones’,” he
suggested.
Mr Blair raised the case with General Musharraf during his visit to Britain last
week. Mr Musharraf, despite giving a thumbs-up sign to a shouted question about
whether he would free Hussein, claims that he has no power to intervene — a
claim that Hussain hotly disputes. From a sheaf of papers by his side he pulled
a handwritten quotation from a State prosecutor citing Article 45 of the
country’s constitution giving the President “absolute powers to pardon”.
Hussain refused to discuss the killing beyond insisting that it was self-
defence. He said that it was “too painful”. For the same reason he appeared
loath to discuss his life in Yorkshire, apart from recalling how he would visit
the sports centre, play draughts and hang out. “It feels like I’ve never been in
England,” he said.
He also talked with evident anguish about the suffering that his case had caused
his family, the costs they had borne in fighting for his release, and of how his
father had died, broken- hearted, four years ago. What sustained him was his
faith, he said. “We are guided by Islamic teaching not to despair.” After rising
at 4am, he spends most of the day praying, studying and reading the Koran. From
the plastic bucket in which he keeps his few possessions he pulled a succession
of religious books, the sole exception being an English-Urdu dictionary. “I used
to read novels, but as time passed I progress to more serious books.”
Right now, he needs all the spiritual sustenance he can get. Since May General
Musharraf, under British pressure, has issued three stays of execution, but the
last expired on Sunday. He is safe during Ramadan, but the moment that the
festival of Eid ends on October 27 he will be vulnerable again, and there is a
limit to how long the President can equivocate.
Hussain still hopes for freedom, but he has watched many cellmates go to their
deaths over the years and said that he had got used to the idea. “As a human
being everyone is scared of death to some extent. But as a Muslim we are happy
to meet our Creator at any moment. We are brought up to think we should be
awaiting death at any time.”
Before leaving, he asked if he could question me. He wondered where I lived in
London, whether I was married, and how many children I had. Three, I answered.
“I pray for them to have a good life,” he said. “Tell them about me and beware
of bad countries and listen to you and their elders.”
THE VERDICTS
1970 Mirza-Tahir Hussain is born in Pakistan
1978 He moves with his family to Britain and settles in Leeds
December 1988 Hussain, 18, flies to Pakistan to visit relatives. He is arrested
after the death of his taxi driver near Rawalpindi. Hussein claims that he shot
the driver in self-defence
September 1989 A sessions court in Islamabad sentences him to death for murder.
He is also convicted of highway robbery
November 1992 The High Court orders a retrial
April 1994 A sessions court in Islamabad sentences him to life imprisonment
May 1996 High Court acquits Hussein of murder, but a month later refers the case
to the Federal Sharia Court, which has jurisdiction over cases of highway
robbery
May 1998 The Sharia court sentences him to death by two votes to one
December 2003 The Supreme Sharia Court of Pakistan rejects the appeal
May 2006 President Musharraf issues the first of three stays of execution. The
last one expired on
October 1 October 26 Ramadan and festival of Eid end, meaning that Hussain can
be hanged after this date barring another stay of execution
Death-row Briton who found faith pleads
for mercy and forgiveness, Ts, 6.10.2006,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2391444,00.html
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