Pakistani Law Amended to Allow Bail for Women Facing Minor Charges

President Pervez Musharraf on Friday amended an Islamic law that would allow hundreds of women charged with adultery and other minor crimes to be released on bail.

The much-awaited amendment by Musharraf would free 1,300 women until their trials, the minister for women’s affairs, Sumaira Malik, told journalists.

“President Musharraf has taken a bold decision to protect the rights of women and save them from the misuse of Islamic laws,” Malik said.

The president previously sought to reform Islamic laws on blasphemy and women’s rights but backed off because of strong opposition in deeply conservative Pakistan.

The president’s action Friday was his first amendment of the Hudood Ordinance, legislation based on the Koran and Islamic tradition.

Since the ordinance was introduced in 1979 by the late dictator Zia ul-Haq, Pakistan has had two parallel and sometimes overlapping legal systems: one based on British common law and another based on Islamic law.

Under the ordinance, women can be sentenced to death by stoning if found guilty of having sex outside marriage. Drinking is punishable with 80 lashes, theft with the amputation of the right hand.

Such punishments have not been carried out in Pakistan, however, as courts within the Islamic and secular legal systems overturn each other’s decisions in unresolved jurisdictional battles.

Malik did not distribute copies of the amendment, which she described as “a great step by the government,” and said only that Musharraf had signed it.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whom Musharraf overthrew in a 1999 coup, made an unsuccessful bid to base the nation’s entire legal system on the precepts of Islam.

Rights groups say the ordinance makes rape prosecutions almost impossible because the victim must produce four male Muslim witnesses in court to prove the charge.