Friday, March 11 2005 22:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Pakistan's highest Islamic court today (March 11, 2005) suspended the Lahore High Court's controversial acquittal of five men convicted of raping a woman on the order of a village council, a judgement which had prompted a barrage of criticism from rights groups all over the world.

The Sharia court overturned the previous ruling saying the High Court had no jurisdiction over the case.

A tribal council had allegedly ordered the rape of 31-year-old Mukhtar Mai in February 2002, as punishment for an alleged affair her brother had with a girl from another family.

The Lahore High Court had exonerated five of the six accused and commuted the death sentence of the sixth to life imprisonment.

The Sharia judges said today that they were acting according to the Constitution, which allowed them to suspend any judgement of a criminal court pending their own ruling.