Play honours death row Briton

Khrishna Maharaj has always claimed his innocence

A play dedicated to a Briton who has faced execution in the US for 14 years has opened in London.

The European première of This is a True Story took place on Tuesday and is based on writings by a convict on death row.

The monologue's performance is dedicated to Londoner Krishna Maharaj, who was convicted of a double-murder in the US in 1987.

It has been developed from the writings of another man, Howard Neal, who has himself been on death row for 20 years.

Maharaj has always claimed his innocence and his campaign to be released has already been supported by up to 300 politicians in the UK.

Clive Stafford Smith took up Maharaj's case

The 61-year-old former business tycoon was convicted of shooting dead Jamaicans Duane Moo Young, 53, and his son Derrick, 23, in a feud over property interests.

His case was re-examined earlier this year by Jeb Bush, brother of the US president.

The former fruit importer denied the killings, saying that the two were victims of Miami's drugs underworld.

Four days into Maharaj's trial, the judge was arrested on bribery charges relating to another case and replaced with another judge, but the trial was not re-started.

He was briefly taken off death row in 1997, but placed back on it after attempts to get a re-trial failed.

Maharaj's case was taken up by Birmingham-based human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, who has been honoured for his work on behalf of convicts on death row.

US Supreme Court

Mr Stafford Smith was due to watch the play, which is being shown at the Man in the Moon Theatre in Chelsea.

It focuses on people with mental disabilities who are on death row.

Staged by the charity Reprieve, it coincides with proceedings in the US Supreme Court on whether the execution of mentally disabled people is acceptable.

The show starts a programme of events on penal issues that runs in London until Friday 9 November.