Pakistan couple, jailed for falling in love, go free

HYDERABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani couple were released Saturday 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 the southern city of Hyderabad where the judge ordered their release.

"I am overjoyed. We have got justice at last," Sodi, 23, told reporters waiting outside. "The judgment shows we have done nothing wrong and it is no crime to marry the man you love."

The court heard a statement from the maulvi, or Muslim preacher, who had conducted the marriage and dismissed the adultery case, defense lawyer Khuda Baksh Leghari told Reuters.

Every year, hundreds of Pakistani women become victims of so-called honor killings for marrying without their families' consent, especially in conservative rural areas.

Others end up in jail after relatives file adultery cases.

Sodi and her husband were arrested in October 2001 on adultery charges and held in separate jails after the woman's father accused the man of abducting his daughter.

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