Pak SC orders rearrest of gang rape suspects

Victim Mukhtaran Mai, who has become an icon for her pursuit of justice and fight for women's rights in conservative Islamic Pakistan, has complained that her safety would be under threat if the suspects were allowed to roam free.

The 33-year-old launched an appeal on Monday against the acquittal earlier this year of five of the men who are to be detained. The other eight set to be arrested include some members of a so-called tribal jury, her lawyer said.

All 13 had been arrested earlier this year on the orders of the government but were freed this month, prompting worldwide anger that was compounded when Pakistan banned Mai from travelling abroad.

"I am very happy. I am feeling highly satisfied," said Mai as she embraced women's rights activists outside the court.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry made the order after Pakistan's attorney general applied for the detentions. "Non-bailable warrants of arrest of the respondents... are issued," he told the court.

Mai was raped in June 2002 on the orders of a village council in the remote village of Meerwala in reprisal for her brother's alleged affair with a woman from a powerful rival clan.