Symbol against 'honor crimes' gives birth

By the CNN Wire Staff

December 6, 2011 -- Updated 0332 GMT (1132 HKT)

Six men were sentenced to death for raping or abetting in the rape of Mukhtaran Bibi in 2002.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The Pakistani woman's gang rape made international headlines nine years ago
• She has delivered her firstborn, a son
• I did not think I would live to see this day," Mukhtaran Bibi says
• A tribal council ordered her rape for an offense allegedly committed by her brother

(CNN) -- A Pakistani woman whose gang rape made international headlines nine years ago has given birth for the first time.
A son was born Sunday to Mukhtaran Bibi, now 40, who became a symbol in the fight against so-called honor crimes.
"I am very happy. I did not think I would live to see this day," Bibi, of Multan, in Punjab Province, told CNN.
The man she has since married, Nasir Abbas Gabol, said: "I am a very happy father."
"Today when we leave the hospital we will take the baby home and there my father will name our son, as per custom in my village," he added.
In 2002, a tribal council ordered her rape by four male acquaintances as retribution after her brother was accused of having relations with a higher-caste woman, Pakistani authorities said at the time.
Later that year, six men were sentenced to death for raping her or abetting in the rape. But five of the men have since been acquitted.

CNN's Aliza Kassim contributed to this report.