Islamabad: The execution of a British national on death row for murder in Pakistan has been delayed because of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, a prison official said on Monday.
Thirty-six-year old Mirza Tahir Hussain, who has been convicted of murdering taxi driver Jamshed Khan in 1988, is being held in a prison in Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad.
Hussain was scheduled to be executed on Monday but the execution has been postponed because of Ramadan, a jail official said on condition of anonymity.
Under Pakistani prison rules, executions of death row inmates are not carried out during Ramadan or on public holidays, the official said.
"We wrote today to the trial court judge to set a new date which will be after Eid," he said of the Islamic holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, a month during which Muslims fast from dawn to dusk.
Death sentences are carried out by hanging in Pakistan. Hussain has always claimed the victim died when his own gun discharged during a struggle after Khan attempted to sexually assault him.
Hussain's family and human rights groups have condemned his planned execution and demanded he be freed.
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