Saudi king pardons rape victim

The king usually issues amnesties to mark the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival which begins on Wednesday.

The pardon represents a rare occasion where Saudi rulers have appeared to challenge publicly the country's hardline clerics, who have wide powers in society according to a traditional pact with the Saudi royal family.

Clerics of Wahhabi Islam dominate the justice system which King Abdullah said in October he wanted to reform.

Criticising the religion-based judiciary is sensitive but the case became a national embarrassment, provoking soul-searching among columnists over the kingdom's image.

Fawziya al-Oyouni, a women's rights activist, welcomed the report but noted it implied the woman was still in the wrong.

"We need harsher sentences for the guilty parties, and we want to feel safe," she said.

(Writing by Andrew Hammond, editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)