The Prince-iple

Tahir Mirza, the Leeds man who was in prison in Pakistan for killing a taxi driver (he claims in self defense), was released a few days ago to come back to the UK. Prince Charles, Tony Blair and Mirza's family had appealed to President Musharraf to release him. And after 18 yrs on death row, they finally did.

I am very happy for the man and his family. Its wonderful that they are happily reunited. However.

If the courts found him guilty of murder, a crime they saw worthy of death, and stood by their decision for 18 yrs, why would they just release him back to the world now? Not only does that seem illogical but also unsafe. But the point is : Prince Charles requested it. England would have been very disapointed to be ignored.

While the man was from Leeds and possibly held a British passport (I'm not sure), he WAS Pakistani by birth. So why was this case even brought up by the Prince? I just cannot wrap my mind around the reasoning for his release. Because his family would have been sad if he died?

What about the family of the man who was killed? But then - they aren't British, they are just Pakistani. So we cannot make British ppl sad, then?

I really dont mean to sound cold-hearted. I don't know if it was self defense or murder and I don't claim to. But if a court decided that he was guilty, shouldn't there be some faith in the system? This really doesn't inspire confidence in the Pakistani justice system.