A British man on Pakistan's death row for 18 years returned home Friday following an act of clemency by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Mirza Tahir Hussain, 38, emerged from a British Airways plane at Heathrow Airport and was expected to issue a statement - just hours after being freed from prison and flown out of Pakistan. | Hussain maintains he was defending himself from an armed sexual assault when Jamshed Khan was shot to death. |
Hussain, who faced death by hanging after being convicted of murdering a taxi driver in 1988, maintains he was defending himself from an armed sexual assault when Jamshed Khan was shot to death. On Wednesday, after lobbying from British politicians and royal figures, Musharraf commuted Hussain's death sentence to life behind bars. Under Pakistani sentencing rules this equated to a 14-year term, meaning he had served his time, the president's office said.