Ms Mai has won a lot of public support as she goes to appeal

Hundreds of people participated in the march, called to protest against the acquittal last week of five of the accused in the case.

Mukhtar Mai was raped, allegedly on the orders of a village council to punish an offence blamed on her brother.

Ms Mai said those acquitted should not be released until her appeal was heard.

Five of the six convicted in the case were cleared on appeal last Thursday.

Security fears

Addressing the rally, Ms Mai said the men might flee the country if released.

There's a lot of danger now for me Mukhtar Mai Justice in spotlight

She thanked the participants for their support, especially women who had turned out in large numbers.

Many men also attended, which observers say is rare for such a cause in the highly conservative city of Multan.

Ms Mai says if the five are released, she is sure they will look for her and harm her.

"There's a lot of danger now for me, even though I have policemen protecting me. But I am going to go back to my village, I have to go back there," she told a news conference in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Saturday.

"The decision that's been taken by the court saddens me. God willing, I am going to appeal in the Supreme Court, for which I need you people as well," she said, calling on the press for their support.

Courage

Monday's march was called by Pattan, a non-government organisation that arranges women's events all over the country on International Women's Day each year.

Pakistani rights groups say Ms Mai has shown courage

A joint statement issued by several leading non-government organisations after the acquittals saluted Ms Mai's courage and bravery in taking on the system.

The statement said the reason for the increasing violence against women in Pakistan was the fact that men guilty of assaulting them were rarely punished.

Village elders allegedly ordered Ms Mai's rape in February 2002 after allegations surfaced that her then 12-year-old brother had had sex with a woman from a more prominent clan. He denied the charges.

Medical evidence presented in court confirmed that Ms Mai had been subjected to rape.

Amid international outcry, four of her alleged rapists and two village elders were sentenced to death the same year.

In addition to the five acquittals, a sixth man, one of the village elders, had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment last week.

The BBC's Paul Anderson in Islamabad says most women who fall prey to attacks designed to restore the slighted honour of a family, clan or tribe, accept their fate - believing that tribal or feudal leaders are too powerful to resist and that the police and judicial systems are stacked against them.