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Pakistan’s Senate overcame opposition from hard-line Muslim lawmakers and amended its rape law on Thursday to make it easier to prosecute sexual assault cases.
The amended law would allow judges to choose whether to try a rape case in a criminal court or Islamic court, which should make it easier to convict rapists.
Under current law, rape victims could only raise a case in the Islamic court. It requires testimony from four witnesses, making a trial of an alleged rapist almost impossible.
The bill now goes before President Pervez Musharraf, who is expected to sign it into law.
