A FATHER of six has been accused of being a hitman following a brutal street murder in New York in 1996.

Mansoor Qadar, 40, of Linden Avenue, Blackburn, has been charged in connection with the drive-by shooting of his cousin five years ago.

He has now been extradited to the United States after he was arrested and is being held at a top security FBI-run Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn.

Mr Qadar, a former nurse at Queen's Park Hospital, could face the death penalty if convicted.

But Mr Qadar's family today said he was an innocent and were shocked by allegations he was involved in the death of Shauket Parvez in a Brooklyn street.

And they called on Blackburn MP and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to help them ensure Mr Qadar gets a fair trial when his case comes to court on December 5.

His brother Khalid Hussain, 45, of Holland Street, Blackburn said: "All we want is justice.

"Mansoor has pleaded his innocence since he was arrested but now he is in America he feels very isolated and vulnerable."

His wife Fehmeeda Qadar said her husband had assured her of his innocence when she visited him in Brixton prison prior to his extradition to the United States.

She said: "He has done nothing wrong but we are so helpless.

"Mansoor has many friends in Blackburn and we are hoping they will be able to speak up on his behalf and make sure that whatever happens to him is fair and just."

Mr Qadar was arrested by Scotland Yard detectives as he got off a North Sea ferry at Harwich on January 19.

He was returning to Blackburn from a one year contract working in Holland, well aware that police had called at his Blackburn home in October 1999.

The first time he was asleep in bed because he had worked the night shift as a nurse at Queen's Park Hospital but the police said not to wake him, they would call back another time said Mr Hussain.

Mr Qadar, who came to the UK when he was nine years old, faced extradition proceedings at Bow Street Magistrates Court in London where District Judge G L Wicks ruled in favour of the Government of the United States of America.

His decision was later ratified by the Secretary of State. He was extradited on October 18 and since then has been held in a top security FBI prison in Brooklyn, New York.

His brother Mr Hussain added: "When he was in Brixton we visited every two weeks but since he was taken to America it has been very difficult even to speak to him on the phone."

The indictment returned by a Grand Jury in the United States District Court of the Eastern District of New York implicates Mr Qadar in conspiracy to murder Shauket Parvez and others, being for hire to commit murder and possession of a firearm in connection with those offences.

The Bow Street Court heard that two witnesses to the murder had identified a car owned by a man called Omar Malik, an alleged co-conspirator with Mr Qadar.

Both witnesses said the shooting was carried out by the passenger. Another witness said that, in the presence of Mr Qadar, Omar Malik had boasted that he had "taken care of his problems in New York" and that Shauket Parvez had been shot.

Malik talked of his need to flee the United States and said he felt it was too risky for him and Mr Qadar to travel together because it would arouse suspicions among the police investigating the shooting.

The District Judge found that there was also evidence that Mr Qadar was in the car with Malik searching for the victim two days before the murder.

Immigration records produced by the American Government at first showed inconsistencies as to when and from where someone using Mr Qadar's name and passport had left the country.

But the prosecution withdrew part of their evidence and the judge announced: "I have reached the view that there is, albeit by a small margin, a sufficiency of properly admissible evidence implicating the defendant in the events of the conspiracy and of the murder to justify the finding of a case to answer."

Mr Hussain said Omar Malik is a distant relative who had been a close friend of their cousin Shauket Parvez. He said he understood that Malik had returned to Pakistan where he had subsequently been arrested and detained. He said the American authorities are seeking his extradition but there is no treaty between the two countries.

" At the moment my brother is facing this alone," said Mr Hussain.

"He says everything is based on false witnesses who have stood against him and he is worried that justice won't be done."

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We understand he was arrested on January 21. He was extradited to New York on October 11 from Brixton Prison on charges of conspiracy to murder.

"He has been visited in prison by our vice-consul in New York on November 9. The vice consul is in touch with him by phone and by mail.

"The important thing is we have seen him and are in contact with him.''