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Pakistani gang-rape victim fearful after release order issued

A woman who drew international attention after being gang-raped in Pakistan in a retaliatory "honor" attack said yesterday she is fearful after several of the alleged perpetrators were ordered released from prison.

Mukhtar Mai's story broke in June 2002 after she was raped by four men on the orders of a village council that wanted to punish her family.

The assault was ordered after Mai's brother allegedly had sex with a woman from a more prominent family.

Mai's story captured global attention and prompted Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf to order the arrest of the culprits.

death sentence

Within days six men were behind bars, and a judge sentenced them to death after finding them guilty.

On Thursday, however, an appeal court in Multan in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province ordered the release of five of the men because of a lack of evidence. The other had his death sentence reduced to life in prison.

While the five have yet to be released, Mai said she won't be safe in her village of Meerwala -- 565km southwest of the capital, Islamabad -- where the crime took place.

"I fear that those who were awarded death sentences can take any step after their re-lease," a tearful Mai said, urging the government to provide her protection.

appeal

Mai, a 33-year-old schoolteacher, said she would not leave her village and vowed to appeal the court's decision.

"I will fight a legal battle to death. I want all those people who molested me hanged," she said.

Mai is from the Gujar clan, while the attackers were from a clan considered socially higher, called Mastoi.

She denied her 13-year-old brother Abdul Shakoor had relations with the Mastoi woman, saying the clan fabricated the story to cover up another incident, in which her brother was allegedly sexually assaulted by Mastoi men.

unforgettable

Mai said she cannot forget what happened on June 22, 2002, when they came to her house and accused Shakoor. Hours later, a village council summoned her father.

"I was worried about my brother, so I went there to see the proceedings," she said.

"My father was defending Shakoor when a man caught me and started taking me to a house. I cried and asked for help. Some armed men caught my father. Later, four men took turns to rape me, and then threw me out of that house," she said.

She said she would never forgive the people who saw her being dragged away, but did nothing to help.

"I heard laughter, and weeping there helplessly was only one man -- my father," she said.
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