Alleged Same-Sex Couple Freed in Pakistan Alleged same-sex couple freed in Pakistan Fri Jul 6, 9:05 PM ET SUMMARY: Pakistan's highest court orders the release on bail of a transman and his wife jailed in May when a judge deemed them lying and un-Islamic. Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the release of a transman and his wife jailed in May for perjury. Female-to-male transsexual Shumail Raj, 31, and his wife Shahzina Tariq, 24, were sent to jail when a Lahore court ruled Raj was still biologically a woman despite two surgeries. Judge Khawaja Sharif ruled that the couple had broken the law by lying about the gender of Raj, whom Tariq said she wed to avoid being forced into an arranged marriage. At the time of the marriage, she claimed to be unaware that Raj was born female. The judge also deemed their relationship un-Islamic. On Thursday, after a judge agreed to hear appeals against the convictions, the couple's lawyer told Reuters that the court's judgment had been suspended, and that Raj and Tariq would be released on bail of $828 each. "The Supreme Court has ordered their release," defense lawyer Babar Awan told Reuters. No date has been set for the appeal. It is believed that the case is the first of its kind in the Islamic country, even though many male-to-female transsexuals live openly in Pakistan.
		Hassan Mirza, Gay.com U.K.
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