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Pakistan's President Stays Death Sentence for Briton

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Pakistani officials say President Pervez Musharraf has issued an indefinite stay of execution of a British man already jailed 18 years for the murder and robbery of a taxi driver in Rawalpindi.

The accused, Mirza Tahir Hussain, of Leeds, England, said the driver tried to sexually assault him at gun point.

Hussain was scheduled to be hanged next month. He was originally acquitted of the crime by Pakistan's high court, but an Islamic court later reinstated the sentence.

Hussain's brother had been lobbying for the commutation of his sentence.

The British government and human rights groups had protested the death sentence, saying Hussain had an unfair trial.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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