Death row Briton's brother cancels Pakistan visit

ISLAMABAD, Oct 28 (Reuters) The brother of a British man on death row in Pakistan today said he had cancelled his visit to the country, on advice from the British government, while efforts were being made to obtain clemency.

Mirza Tahir Hussain was convicted of murdering a taxi driver in Islamabad in 1988. Hussain contends that the taxi driver tried to sexually assault him and then pulled a gun which went off when they struggled. Hussain has spent 18 years in jail.

The Pakistan government has put off the execution of Hussain, until the end of the year, and senior Pakistani officials say it is trying to find a way to spare the 36-year-old from Leeds in northern England.

Pakistan does not want to be perceived as acting under pressure, although British leaders, including Prince Charles, who is expected to arrive in Pakistan tomorrow at the start of an official tour, have expressed interest in the case.

Hussain's brother had planned to come to Pakistan while Prince Charles and his wife Camilla were in the country.

''I have been advised by the Foreign Office not to visit Pakistan,'' Amjad Hussain told Reuters by telephone from Britain.

He also thanked Prince Charles and Prime Minister Tony Blair for their support.

Blair raised Hussain's case with President Pervez Musharraf when the Pakistani leader visited London in September.

Pakistan has repeatedly put off Hussain's hanging, in the hope that a blood money settlement, permitted under Islamic law, could be reached with relatives of Jamshaid Khan, a taxi driver he was convicted of murdering in Islamabad in 1988.

So far, the dead man's relatives have refused to negotiate, saying it would be dishonourable.

Right groups and British parliamentarians say Hussain is the victim of a miscarriage of justice, as did the dissenting judge in the Islamic court that convicted him.

REUTERS DKB RK1910