PRESSURE is growing on Pakistan to release a Scottish pensioner from the country's death row after he was diagnosed as mentally ill.

Tests have been carried by state-appointed psychiatrists on Edinburgh man Mohammed Asghar, 70, who is being held in prison awaiting execution for blasphemy.

His supporters say the new diagnosis, which follows similar evidence from Scottish doctors adds weight to earlier calls for the charges to be dropped and for Mr Ashgar to be released.

The grocery shop-keeper, from Leith, has been behind bars for a year, following his conviction for a 2010 incident Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad. A Pakistan court found that he had claimed to be the Prophet Mohammed in letters sent to various officials

His daughter Jasmine Rana, 41, said: "We just want dad back.

"They've recognised that he's ill now. Why can't they just put him on the next flight and send him back? "The message we want to get out there is the same as its been from the start."

She repeated an earlier call by his freedom campaigners for the Prime Minister to put pressure on the Pakistani authorities to release him.

In a further direct plea, she added: "Please David Cameron, do something now."

The new test results are in line with those from doctors from his home country, who said he had been unfit to stand trial. His death sentence came despite the appeals of medical professionals.

Concern has been expressed about Mr Ashgar's well-being after a legal team visited him in jail.

Lawyers told the judicial charity Reprieve that he had appeared "pale, dehydrated, shaking and barely lucid" and was suffering from severe delusions.

Mr Asghar is being held in the notorious Adiala jail in Rawalpindin but there are growing fears that he could be at risk of vigilante attacks, given blasphemy is such a highly charged accusation in Pakistan.

Last September, he was shot in jail by a policeman who was supposed to be protecting him and spent weeks in hospital recovering.

The attack led to fresh demands for action, with Ms Rana delivering a 70,000-signature petition to Mr Cameron asking for his intervention. She said: "The past year has been really tough. Every day we're waiting for news. There's nothing else we can do. It seems like every time we think we're going forward, we end up taking backwards steps.

"We're frustrated and my dad is extremely frustrated. He has to stay in one room, he's not allowed to leave the room or even walk up and down the corridors for his own safety.

"My own kids have been writing letters to him and we get a response through the Foreign Office a couple of weeks later. It's a horrible situation."

Amnesty International has also called for his release. Its Asia Pacific director Polly Truscott has said he is 'facing the gallows simply for writing a series of letters.' The Scottish Government has urged the Pakistan authorities to stand by a moratorium on the death penalty.

Family lawyer Aamer Anwar said it was imperative that Britain's political leaders step in to secure his release. He said: "Every day that passes places Mr Asghar's life further at risk. "He is a frightened, elderly man who should be sitting at home in Edinburgh with his family. "I hope that our PM will now act to convince Pakistani authorities to fast-track the release of a man who should never have been in court in the first place."

The case of Mr Ashgar, who is a Pakistan citizen of UK origin, is not the first UK citizen to be tried under the country's strict blasphemy laaws.

In November 2012, Masud Ahmad, of the Ahmadi sect, was jailed for reciting a passage from the Koran, a prohibited act for Ahmadis under the country's blasphemy laws.

Human rights campaigners claim the legislation is frequently used by some for personal gain, with minorities most likely to be targeted.