Women With Morals Charges To Be Freed

Via Christian Science Monitor, more than 1,000 female prisoners are expected to be released this week on bail in Pakistan following a decision by President Pervez Musharraf to review a controversial set of laws affecting women.

Many of the female inmates are awaiting trial for violations under the Hudood Ordinances, which stipulate harsh penalties for extramarital sex. Do men stand these same convictions?

The laws require a woman who claims that she was raped to produce four pious male witnesses. Otherwise, she stands to be charged with adultery - an offense that can carry a death sentence by stoning. Cause if she fights back, as 18-year-old Nazanin did, she has a murder charge (The Rutherford Institute).

The ordinances have also been used as a weapon against women who defy marriage choices made by their families. Essentially, legalizing honor killings.

Dictators, no matter their stated religion, make ordinances to assert and maintain their own power.