Photo of Mukhtar with this link.
Crusader Takes Award
A Pakistani gang rape victim who gained international fame for speaking out against her attackers has won an award for her courage.
Mukhtar Mai, 36, is to be presented with the Woman of the Year 2005 title in New York.
The divorcee braved social stigma by going public over the rape in June 2002.
The attack had been ordered by a village council in retaliation for her 12-year-old brother's alleged affair with a woman from a higher-caste family.
Her case and her battle to iradicate such practices attracted international attention.
Using donations from well-wishers, she has since set up a school for girls in her rural community.
Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf had originally barred Miss Mai from travelling to the US at the invitation of a rights group.
The ban was lifted when Washington protested.
Glamour, an American women's magazine, will present Miss Mai with the award and an £11,000 cash prize on November 2.
Past award winners include US Senator Hillary Clinton.
The legal case against Miss Mai's alleged attackers is still being heard in the Supreme Court.
Insisting she had no plans to stay in America, the crusader said: "I am a born Pakistani and prefer to live in my own country."
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