jirga

Tabassum Adnan wants women to stand up for their rights.

That's a dangerous message to send where she comes from -- Pakistan's Swat Valley. And that's the reason she was just awarded the U.S. Secretary Of State's International Women of Courage Award.

A couple have been sentenced to be stoned to death for alleged adultery by a tribal court in north-west Pakistan, with the woman's life now considered in danger. The man involved, Zarkat Khan, has run away while the woman is in the custody of the court, according to residents in Kala Dhaka, a remote area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. The death sentence, handed down in Manjakot village last month, will be carried out once the man is found, a member of the tribal court said. The woman, whose name is being withheld at the request of human rights groups, is being held in a nearby village, according to campaigners. She is married and believed to have three children.

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