Father among 9 people arrested in Pakistan over suspected honor killing
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$0 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*No charge for 4 weeks then price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.75/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — The father and the ex-husband of an alleged honor-killing victim are among nine people arrested in eastern Pakistan in connection with the young woman’s death.
Police said Sidra Bibi, 18, was killed on the orders of a local council of elders in the garrison city of Rawalpindi after she married a man of her choice.
Some of her relatives are alleged to have buried her body and flattened the land to erase evidence of a grave, police official Aftab Hussain said Monday. The victim was suffocated using a pillow placed over her face, he added.
The arrests came after authorities exhumed the body and carried out an autopsy, which confirmed she had been tortured before being killed.
The case has drawn widespread condemnation in a country where honor killings are still common.
The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said 405 women were killed in 2024 in such cases, compared with 226 in 2023.
“The actual number is believed to be higher due to underreporting,” said Sadia Bukhari, a member of the commission’s council.
Honor killings, in which family members kill women for actions perceived as bringing shame to the family — such as choosing their spouse — have increased in recent years.
Earlier this month, police in in southwestern Balochistan province arrested 11 suspects after a video shared online appeared to show a young couple being fatally shot for marrying without their families’ approval.
Police confirmed the authenticity of the footage, saying the killings happened in the Deghari district in the province of Balochistan.
In January, police arrested a Pakistani man suspected of killing his U.S.-born 15-year-old daughter for refusing to stop posting videos on TikTok, a platform with more than 54 million users in the country.
“These so-called honor killings reveal a deep-rooted mindset that views women as the property of men,” Bukhari said. “Most women in Pakistan face discrimination from childhood through adulthood.”
__
Associated Press writer Asim Tanveer contributed to this story from Multan, Pakistan.