ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan's president amended a controversial Islamic law Friday so that women facing charges for adultery and other minor crimes can be released on bail. The much-awaited amendment by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to the Hadood Ordinance will initially affect 1,300 female prisoners, Pakistan's minister for women's affairs, Sumaira Malik, told journalists.
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Under the Hadood Ordinance - passed under the military dictatorship of late Gen. Mohammed Zia-ul-Haq in 1979 - women can be sentenced to death if found guilty of having sex outside of marriage. The ordinance did not allow for women to be released on bail.
I gather this is to be taken as a sign of progress and enlightenment. At this rate, it will only take another 1,500 years of progressive legislation before the Blogging Dippers grant General Pervez Musharraf an honorary membership.
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