Rape law reforms advance

Pakistan’s lower house of parliament passed amendments to contentious rape laws, revising a requirement that a rape victim must produce four witnesses and dropping the death penalty and flogging as punishments for extramarital sex.

Islamic fundamentalists stormed out of the chambers in protest. President Pervez Musharraf applauded the lawmakers and urged the Senate to pass the measures quickly.

Strict Islamic laws dictate that a woman who claims rape must produce four witnesses in court, making a trial almost impossible. Women who cannot prove rape risk being charged with adultery.