Pakistan's Supreme Court has ordered the rearrest of 13 suspects who had been acquitted of the gang-rape of a Pakistani woman.

Tuesday's ruling suspends an earlier decision by the provincial high court that overturned the convictions of five of the six men accused of attacking Mukhtar Mai.

Eight others, who served on the village council that ordered her to be raped, were also acquitted at that time, but were ordered rearrested on Tuesday.

Mukhtar Mai leaves the Pakistani Supreme Court after the decision in Islamabad, Tuesday, June 28. (AP photo)
Mukhtar Mai leaves the Pakistani Supreme Court after the decision in Islamabad, Tuesday, June 28. (AP photo)

The decision comes a day after Mai appealed the acquittals in an appearance at the court.

"I was expecting justice from the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court has done justice," Mai said Tuesday.

In June 2002, a council of elders ordered Mai to be gang-raped as punishment because her 12-year-old brother had allegedly been involved in an affair with a woman, offending members of her powerful clan. Mai claims that allegation was fabricated to cover up a sexual assault against the boy by men from the woman's clan.

Mai spoke out against her rape, leading six men to be convicted and sentenced to death.

But in March 2005, a Pakistani high court overturned the death sentences of all six men and ordered five of them freed. The sixth man's death sentence was commuted to a life sentence.

Despite the March ruling overturning their conviction, the five men have remained in detention. The eight men on the village council have also been in detention for several months.

Earlier this month, the Pakistani government blocked Mai from travelling to the United States to talk about her case. But that ban was recently lifted. She said Monday that her passport has been returned.