Follow up: Pakistan Reopens Gang-Rape Case

By John Lancaster
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, June 28, 2005; 7:06 AM
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 28 -- Pakistan's Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to reopen an inquiry into the high-profile case of Mukthar Mai, an unlettered laborer's daughter from southern Punjab province who allegedly was gang-raped on the orders of a tribal council in 2002.

The court decision overturned a judgment by the Lahore High Court, issued in March, that threw out the convictions of five of the men accused of involvement in the rape and commuted the death sentence of a sixth.

The Supreme Court also ordered the re-arrest of 13 of the original suspects in the case. The high court's decision, following two days of hearings, was a victory for Mai, 32, whose case has prompted an outpouring of international sympathy and also become a focal point for concern about violence against women in Pakistan.

The court will now review the evidence and make its own determination as to the guilt or innocence of the accused, a process that is likely to take months. "I am happy and I hope those who humiliated me will be punished," Mai told reporters after emerging from the Supreme Court following Tuesday's ruling.
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Orginal Post from the 26th.