British man freed after 18 years in Pakistan jail

ISLAMABAD, Nov 17 (Reuters) A British man who faced the death penalty in Pakistan for a murder he says he didn't commit was released today after 18 years in jail and later flew out of the country.

President Pervez Musharraf commuted Mirza Tahir Hussain's death sentence on Wednesday to a life term after the British government and rights groups had pleaded for clemency for the 36-year-old from Leeds in northern England.

''He has been released. He is overjoyed and he thanks everybody who has campaigned tirelessly on his behalf,'' Hussain's brother, Amjad, told a news conference in London.

''Obviously it has been a terrible nightmare and ordeal and I am glad that it is now over and he can come back home. It will be a joyous occasion for the family.'' British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is due to visit Pakistan shortly, and Prince Charles had both raised the case with Musharraf in recent weeks.

Hussain, a British Muslim of Pakistani descent, was convicted of killing taxi driver Jamshaid Khan in Islamabad in 1988.

He said the man had tried to sexually assault him and then threatened him with a gun, which went off when they struggled.

He was originally acquitted by Pakistan's High Court, but an Islamic court sentenced him to death in 1998. The sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2003, and a review petition was rejected a year later.

But the government had put off his hanging several times, most recently until the end of the year, as officials sought a way to spare him.

Authorities had hoped a blood-money settlement, permitted under Islamic law, could be reached with the dead man's family, but the relatives refused, saying it would be dishonourable.

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