Bureaucratic hurdles delayed by a few days the release of hundreds of women from Pakistani jails after a landmark amendment to a harsh Islamic law gave them bail rights.
Rights activists had on Saturday praised the move by President Pervez Musharraf to amend the Hadood Ordinance allowing women awaiting trial for adultery and other minor crimes to go free on bail.
"Musharraf has taken one good step, but he should do more. He should scrap the Hadood Ordinance to save women from any future persecution," I.A. Rahman, a human rights activist said.
Federal Minister for Women's Affairs Sumaira Malik also described the amendment as a "great step," saying it would allow 1,300 women to leave jail on bail and join their families.
The women were expected to be freed on Saturday.
But jail officials only late on Saturday began receiving orders about the release of the women. Officials said inmates would have to wait another two or three more days before they were freed.
"According to a notification that we received from the government Saturday evening, judges will go to jails to decide who is entitled to bail rights," said Fakhra Azra, a jail official in Multan, a city in Punjab Province.
She said they were preparing to free 20 inmates, including 16 women who are facing charges for adultery under the Hadood Ordinance.
Under the ordinance, women can be sentenced to death by stoning if found guilty of having sex outside of marriage. Drinking is punishable by 80 lashes and theft with the amputation of the right hand.
However, such punishments have not been carried out in Pakistan because courts from the Islamic and ordinary legal systems often overturn each others' decisions in unresolved jurisdictional battles.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of