A PAKISTANI woman who was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery was cleared of all charges.

Zufran Bibi's case had triggered nationwide protests. The 28-year-old appealed against the conviction by the court in the conservative North West Frontier Province, claiming she had been raped.

Extramarital sex is a crime punishable by death under Pakistan's Hudood Ordinance.

Hudood Ordinance has been widely criticised by human rights activists as discriminatory against women.

Bibi's case became a focal point for hundreds of outraged civil and women's rights protests across Pakistan.

Her husband, Naimat Khan, filed an appeal before the Federal Shariat Court - an Islamic judicial council - that acquitted Bibi after she and Khan testified yesterday.

Asma Jehangir, Pakistan's leading human rights lawyer, said hundreds of women across the country have been unfairly targeted under the law.

"It must be repealed," he said.