Pakistan delays Briton's hanging, politicians step in

ISLAMABAD, July 27 (Reuters) Pakistan postponed for a third time the hanging of a Briton convicted of murder in order to give politicians another month to persuade the victim's family to grant a pardon, a Cabinet Minister said today.

Mirza Tahir Hussain, 36, has already twice had his execution stayed following the intervention of President Pervez Musharraf, but last week a new date of August. 3 was set for the hanging.

''In principle, it has been agreed that an extension will be granted and the directives will be issued soon,'' Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani told Reuters.

''This is meant to give them a chance to settle the issue,'' Durrani added.

Under Islamic sharia law, heirs of a victim may pardon a condemned man in return for blood money.

So far, Hussain's family have been unable to reach a settlement with the relatives of the taxi driver he was convicted of shooting dead 18 years ago.

Hussain, who is of Pakistani descent, said at his trial that the driver had tried to sexually assault him, and then pulled a gun that went off when the two struggled.

The dead man's family hail from a conservative Pashtun tribal area where accepting such payment would be regarded as dishonourable.

However, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League and one of the most powerful politicians, has agreed to help negotiations, along with his deputy, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed.

Hussain, who has now spent half his life in jail, was originally acquitted by Pakistan's High Court, but the Islamic Federal Shariat Court sentenced him to death by hanging in 1998.

The sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2003, and a review petition was rejected a year later.

Hussain's family had said they would appeal to Musharraf to spare his life if needed, but Durrani noted no president had taken such a decision in the last 30 years.

REUTERS PKS RK1918