6 Apr 2009

Inquiry into public flogging of teenage girl

8:44 am on 6 April 2009

Pakistan's chief justice has called for a court hearing into the public flogging of a teenage girl, which was recorded on video and shown around the world.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has ordered police and government officials from the northwestern Swat Valley to bring the girl to court next week.

The video shows her being held down and hit with a strap after being accused of illicit relations with a man.

A human rights activist, Tahira Abdullah, has described the flogging as a defamation of Islam.