Pakistan stoning sentence overturned

Rights groups say women suffer under Islamic laws

By Zafar Abbas BBC correspondent in Islamabad

An Islamic court in Pakistan has acquitted a woman who was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.

Bibi was charged after registering a rape case

Zafran Bibi was present in the federal shariah (Islamic) court in the capital, Islamabad, when the three-judge bench announced its verdict.

She was brought specially from prison in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) on the orders of the court, which wanted to hear her side of the story.

And after hearing her patiently, it set aside the conviction and ordered her immediate acquittal.

Rights controversy

The harsh sentence on Zafran Bibi, a village woman from Kohat district in NWFP, had sparked a bitter controversy in the country, with human rights groups demanding the repeal of controversial Islamic laws.

These groups say they clearly discriminate against women.

Zafran Bibi originally went to the police two years ago to register a case of rape.

But instead, she herself was charged with having an adulterous affair.

She gave birth to a son while her husband was in prison, and a court in the conservative town of Kohat found her guilty of adultery.

Under the country's Islamic laws, she was sentenced to death by stoning.

Following widespread criticism by human rights groups, President Musharraf gave an assurance that the sentence would not be carried out.

And after a brief hearing, the country's highest Islamic court has now overturned the lower court's decision.

But human rights groups say there are numerous cases in which victims of rape have been charged with adultery under the controversial Islamic laws.

They say unless these laws are repealed, their misuse will continue, and women will largely be the victims.