Mirza Tahir Hussain has spent 18 years on death row

Mirza Tahir Hussain, from Leeds, has been on death row in the country for 18 years after being convicted of killing a Pakistani taxi driver.

He is now due to be hanged on 3 August after a month-long stay of execution.

A Leeds MP said the execution would be a "travesty of justice" and has asked Tony Blair to step in to stop it.

Leeds North West MP Greg Mulholland said Mr Hussain's family had believed a new date would not be set while negotiations continued between themselves and the taxi driver's family, a method of resolving cases enshrined in Islamic Law.

"This is a shocking and extremely worrying development, and one which has greatly dismayed everyone involved," he said.

"His family are in great distress and they do not feel they are getting the help from the government that they need or deserve."

Self-defence

Mr Mulholland said Mr Hussain's death sentence should be permanently revoked, and there were real grounds to argue that his entire conviction should be completely overturned.

He added: "I have called upon the prime minister to do everything in his power to prevent this horrific death sentence from being carried out and I will continue to do everything I can to stop this travesty of justice."

Mr Hussain said he killed the taxi driver in self-defence. After several trials, Pakistan's High Court threw out his guilty verdict, citing flawed evidence.

But he was then retried by an Islamic court which sentenced him to death.