Islamabad ? Pakistan’s president on Friday amended an Islamic law to allow hundreds of women facing charges for adultery and other minor crimes to be freed on bail.

The much-anticipated amendment by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf would affect 1,300 female prisoners currently awaiting trial, the minister for women’s affairs, Sumaira Malik, said.

Friday’s amendment is the president’s first to the Hadood Ordinance, legislation based on the Koran and Islamic tradition.

Since the ordinance was introduced in 1979 by the late dictator Gen. Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan has had two parallel and sometimes overlapping legal systems: one based on British common law, the other based on Islamic law.

Under the ordinance, women can be sentenced to death by stoning if found guilty of having sex outside of marriage. Drinking is punishable with 80 lashes, theft with the amputation of the right hand.