Jailed Couple Freed

KARACHI, 30 April 2006 — A couple were released yesterday after serving five years in jail for adultery, their only crime having been to fall in love and get married. Sodi, 23, and her husband, Abdul Hakeem Kashkeli, 26, appeared in court in Hyderabad where the judge ordered their release. The court took the decision on the directives of the chief justice of Pakistan, who took notice of the plight of the couple on their appeal made from the jail. The couple were arrested and jailed in a case of adultery in October 2001 after the woman’s father accused the man of abducting his daughter. “I am overjoyed. We have got justice at last,” she said. The court heard a statement from the maulvi who had solemnized the marriage and dismissed the case.