Pakistan's gang-rape victim free to go abroad

ISLAMABAD, Thursday (Reuters) - A Pakistani gang rape victim may travel abroad after the Pakistani government said it had lifted restrictions on her movements following protests from international media and the U.S. government.

Mukhtaran Mai, who was gang raped on the orders of a traditional village council in 2002, had demanded that the government allow her to travel after a court ordered the release of 12 men connected with her case.

The U.S. State Department called the travel restrictions "outrageous" following the order to release the men, some of whom were accused of raping her, and it said she was welcome to visit the United States.

"On the instruction of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the name of Mukhtaran Mai has been removed from the ECL," Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sharpao told parliament, referring to an exit control list that prevents overseas travel.

"She is free to go anywhere. She can go wherever she wants," he said.

Mai's case provoked national outcry and focused international attention on the treatment of women in rural Pakistan. Human rights workers had wanted Mai to go abroad to speak on the plight of women in her country.