Afghan rape victim jailed for 'adultery' is freed

An Afghan woman who was jailed for "forced adultery" after a relative raped her, then pardoned following an international outcry over the case, has been released nearly two weeks after a judicial panel said she could go free, her lawyer said yesterday. "She was released last night," said lawyer Kimberley Motley. "She's happy that she's in a safer place."

The woman, known only as Gulnaz, now 21, was attacked by her cousin's husband in 2009 and then given a two-year sentence for "adultery by force". She gave birth to a daughter behind bars. Her jail term was raised to 12 years on appeal, but she was told she would be freed if she agreed to marry her attacker. Her sentence was cut to three years at another appeal, and the requirement that she marry her rapist, who is serving a seven-year sentence for the attack, was dropped.