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.
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