Pakistani Court Orders Release of 12 Men in Alleged ‘Honor’ Rape

A court in eastern Pakistan on Friday ordered the release of a dozen men detained in connection with a 2002 rape that the victim said was ordered by local officials.

The men had been jailed since March on an order that will expire next week. A review board of the Lahore High Court denied a government request for a three-month extension, said Mohammed Shahid, a court official.

It was not clear when the men might be freed, though presumably the government could hold them until the original order expires.

Thirteen suspects were arrested in 2002 after Mukhtar Mai, then 33, told of her ordeal. She said she was raped on orders from a village council, which called the attack punishment for her brother’s alleged illicit affair with a woman from another family. Mai says the claim of that affair is false.

In August 2002, six of the suspects were convicted and sentenced to death. But in March of this year, another court overturned the convictions of five and reduced the death sentence of the sixth to life in prison, sparking an outcry by human rights groups in Pakistan and abroad.

Authorities rearrested all 13 men after the ruling. The man whose sentence was reduced to life in prison will remain jailed.

Mai said by telephone that she would appeal the decision.

“I will ask the government not to free them,” she said from Meerwala, a village near Multan, in eastern Punjab province.