Human rights activists says Afghan women are still denied their rights

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has pardoned a rape victim who was jailed for adultery, after she apparently agreed to marry her attacker.

A government statement said she agreed to the marriage, although her lawyer said she did not wish to marry him.
The woman, named as Gulnaz, gave birth in prison to a daughter who has been kept in jail with her.
Senior Afghan officials told the BBC the government put no preconditions on her release.
“President Karzai tasked the minister of justice to go and talk to Gulnaz to see what she wants. During her meeting with the minister, she said she will marry the attacker only if her brother marries the attacker’s sister,” Emal Faizay, a spokesman for President Karzai, told the BBC.
“This is a decision by her. I can confirm that there is no precondition set by the Afghan government.”
Gulnaz’s lawyer told the BBC she hoped the government would allow Gulnaz the freedom to choose whom to marry.
“In my conversations with Gulnaz she told me that if she had the free choice she would not marry the man who raped her,” said Kimberley Motley.
Read More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15991641?mid=5430