A three-member review board of the Lahore High Court (LHC), consisting of Justice Mian Muhammad Najamuz Zaman, Justice Sheikh Abdul Rashid and Justice Mohammad Bilal Khan, on Friday ordered the release of a dozen men detained in connection with the Mukhtar Mai rape case, in the latest legal twist in one of the nation's highest profile cases involving violence against women. The men had been jailed since March on an order that will expire next week. The review board also denied the Punjab government's request for a three-month extension, said Mohammed Shahid, a court official. It was not clear when they might be freed, though presumably the government can hold them at least until the original order expires.A total of 13 men were captured in 2002 after Mukhtar Mai, then 33, came forward to tell of her ordeal. She said that she was raped on orders from a village council, which said it was a punishment for her brother's alleged illicit affair with a woman from another family. In August 2002, six suspects were sentenced to death and the other eight acquitted. But in March of this year, another court overturned the convictions of the five men, and reduced the death sentence of the sixth to life in prison, sparking an outcry by human rights groups both in Pakistan and abroad.