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KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- An Afghan woman imprisoned for adultery after a relative raped her can go home or remain in detention for her safety, President Hamid Karzai said Thursday. Karzai said he was concerned that if the woman returned to her village after her release, she could face reprisals from the conservative society, CNN reported Thursday.
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The woman, identified only as Gulnaz to protect her identity, did not immediately report the rape by her husband's cousin over fear of reprisals and was later sentenced to 12 years in prison for adultery because her attacker was married.
Her sentence was subsequently reduced to three years.
The country's justice minister will meet with the woman and her rapist to determine whether she wants to marry him and legitimize her daughter, Karzai said.
"If Gulnaz tells the justice minister today that she would marry the man and wouldn't have any problem after release or if she presents any other way that she could live without any risk to her life and her daughter's, then the Justice Ministry will issue a statement today announcing her release," a spokesman for Karzai said.
The woman is raising her daughter in jail and had previously agreed to marry her attacker in order to be released, but an attorney for Gulnaz now says she does not wish to marry her rapist and has a safe place to go on release.
