British man alleges that he, his son and a family friend were tortured in Pakistan

A British man alleged that he, his son and a family friend were tortured in his native Pakistan, and he urged the British government to push for the younger men's release.

Fazal Hussain told a meeting at the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday that he, son Naheem Hussain, 24, and friend Rehan Zaman, 25, were arrested in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir after two members of his extended family were shot dead.

He said that police officers whipped the three men's bare feet with canes over a period of two weeks in 2004. Zaman was hung upside down, had cigarettes stubbed out on his skin and fingernails removed, Hussain said.

The two younger men confessed to the killings under duress, he said. Hussain said a trial began in 2004 but has been beset by delays.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit did not immediately return phone calls requesting comment.

Hussain said he was released from custody in 2004 after he fell ill — and after he agreed to pay around 11,000 pounds ($15,400) to police to stop the torture. The two younger men are still in custody and may face the death penalty, he said.

"What we are talking about are some truly medieval practices," lawyer Clive Stafford Smith said.

"I appeal to the British government, we are British citizens — do something, please," said Hussain, who moved to the U.K. in 1967.

Britain's ex-International Development Secretary Clare Short, who is Hussain's local legislator, said she has written to Foreign Secretary David Miliband and urged him to press Pakistan to either release the men, or proceed with the trial.

Stafford Smith said there is no evidence to suggest that any of the men are involved in the killings — which Pakistani police say are connected to a land dispute.

He said lawyers had interviewed Hussain in Britain, and his son and Zaman in prison to verify their claims.

Britain's Foreign Office said an official visited the men in prison in 2004, and that embassy staff have regularly visited Naheem Hussain and Zamam at Mirpur Prison since 2006.

British officials will meet with lawyers representing the men to discuss making a formal complaint to Pakistan, it said.

Short criticized Britain's government for not taking action more quickly over the case.

But Hussain acknowledged that a lawyer no longer working with the family had previously asked British officials not to raise allegations of torture, fearing that could lead to harsher mistreatment for the men still in custody.

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Associated Press Writer Nahal Toosi in Islamabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report