MUSHARRAF APPROVES PAKISTAN RAPE LAW CHANGES

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf signed into law a bill amending the country's Islamic rape legislation, despite protests by religious parties.
The bill places rape laws under Pakistan's British-influenced penal code and scraps harsh conditions that required victims to produce four male witnesses and exposed them to prosecution for adultery if they were unable to prove the crime.
The maximum sentence for adultery by a man or a woman under the laws is death by stoning, although that has never been enforced and those convicted of the crime get jail or a fine instead.