As many as twenty women were released from Kabul jail on the orders of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The Afghan leader made the gesture in honour of the holy month of Ramadan.

The women who have gained their freedom have spent time in prison for acts that would hardly be considered crimes in most other countries.

Karzai ordered the release

One young woman had been sentenced to a year imprisonment for running away with a man she fell in love with, rather than participating in a forced marriage.

Another, older woman, who has five children, was jailed by her son in law, who accused her of theft.

Many of the women detainees had no clear understanding of why they were being held, or whether their cases would be heard and by which court.

Media pressure

In the past virtually their only way out would have been through bribery. So this act of presidential clemency was welcome indeed.

The women filed out of the rundown city jail, all wearing blue burkhas, to be greeted by some family members and friends.

The agony of not being released

One young mother, who stood with her eleven year old daughter, said she was elated to be going back to her family and going back normal life.

She said she didn't think it was purely an act of the Afghan President Hamid Karzai, to release her from eight months' imprisonment.

She thought it was the international media and the United States government who had ultimately forced her freedom.