PAKISTAN-WOMEN-JUSTICE-PROTEST

Pakistani children leap over burning tyres during a demonstration by activists of the fundamentalist Islamic alliance the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) against the amendment in the Islamic rape law by the government in Karachi, 22 December 2006. Pakistani lawmakers on 15 November, approved a women's rights bill amending harsh Islamic laws on rape and adultery, despite fierce opposition from hardliners who said the change would promote "free sex". The bill scraps widely-criticised laws dating from 1979, which say that women must produce four Muslim male witnesses as evidence of rape or potentially face adultery charges themselves. AFP PHOTO/Rizwan TABASSUM