MIRZA TAHIR HUSSAIN EXCLUSIVE ON BBC ASIAN NETWORK
(27 November 2006)

Mirza Tahir Hussain, the Leeds man who was recently released after spending 18 years in a Pakistani prison, spoke exclusively to Sonial Deol on BBC Asian Network this morning. Mirza, who only last week was in a Pakistani jail under a death sentence and scheduled to be executed at the end of the year, saw his sentence commuted by President Musharraf after appeals by Prince Charles and other leading political leaders.

In the studio with Sonia, Mirza told his side of the story in an in depth interview to be broadcast in segments on Monday 27 November on the Breakfast Show (6 - 9am) and later as a documentary for the Asian Network Report at 6.30pm. Sonia Deol had previously met Mirza Tahir Hussain in a gripping interview from his prison cell where he pleaded for his life. Asian Network reporter Sanjiv Buttoo secured both interviews as a result of deep interest in the case and a long relationship with Mirza's family.

ABOUT THE MIRZA TAHIR HUSSAIN CASE

Mirza Tahir Hussain was tried and convicted of murdering taxi driver Jamshid Khan while travelling to the village of Bhubar from Rawalpindi on 17 December 1988. The taxi driver reportedly stopped the car, produced a gun and attempted to physically and sexually assault Mirza Tahir Hussain who was 18 years old at the time. In the scuffle that followed, the gun went off, and the taxi driver was fatally injured.

Asked to describe the circumstances of his case, this is what he told Sonia:

Mirza Hussain: Well I took out my wallet and gave it to him, simple as that, yeah. But he was not satisfied, you know. He said to me to get out of the car and he also said, he ordered me, to get out of the car, he's not done with me and he's going to, I mean molest me and I should go behind the bushes and follow his orders or otherwise he'll shoot me.

Sonia Deol: So at this point you've got out of the taxi?

Mirza Hussain: Yeah.

Sonia Deol: And then he told you to go behind the bushes?

Mirza Hussain: Yeah.

Sonia Deol: And did you?

Mirza Hussain: Yeah I had no other option, you know? I didn't want to move you know but he was pointing the gun at me and signalling me to move you know? So at a point when the gun was not aiming at me, I went for the gun and grabbed his wrists you know and in that ensuing scuffle the gun suddenly went off.

Sonia Deol: Do you remember who pulled the trigger?

Mirza Hussain: It was not in my hands, it was still in his hands so…during that scuffle it just went off.

Sonia Deol: Do you remember who pulled the trigger?

Mirza Hussain: I mean…(pause)…the gun was still in his hand, so I was trying, I mean trying to snatch for him so…it might have…it's very difficult to say, I mean, it must have been, I mean, some kind of pressure on the trigger or as I was also trying to snatch the gun. The gun went off.

Sonia Deol: Even though you've told me about what happened that led up to this, did you feel guilty at all, at this point?

Mirza Hussain: Guilty for what?

Sonia Deol: Did you feel any guilt when you thought….

Mirza Hussain: Not at all, you know, I have done my duty you know, it was a sudden incident and whatever happened you know, after all we are human beings you know and when he got injured and fell to the ground I felt duty bound to report this incident to the police and get some help, you know, and take him to the hospital.

Sonia Deol: Did you feel ANY guilt at all about how it was a scuffle that led to him being shot and now he was dead?

Mirza Hussain: I mean I had no other option in the same time you know, I also had to defend myself as well instead of Jamshed Khan it might have been me who might have got shot and killed.

Sonia Deol: So at this point, really, you're just thinking about yourself and what you've just had to go through.

Mirza Hussain: Yes.

Sonia Deol: Your thoughts are nowhere else.

Mirza Hussain: Yes.

Mirza Hussain: But after the gun went off and he fell to the ground, injured state, then I mean, defending myself and all this, I forgot about defending myself I just wanted to get help.

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