Pakistani man who filmed sister’s ‘honour’ killing arrested
- Maria Bibi, 22, was allegedly strangled by one of her brothers on March 17, in the presence of their father
- Her other brother filmed the video which went viral and has outraged the country
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A Pakistani man who allegedly filmed his brother strangling their sister to death has been arrested as part of the latest “honour” killing that has outraged the country, police said.
Maria Bibi, 22, was killed overnight on March 17, allegedly by her brother Muhammad Faisal and in the presence of her father Abdul Sattar, near Toba Tek Singh town in the central-eastern province of Punjab.
A video filmed by the woman’s other brother Shehbaz, and which has gone viral, appears to show Faisal strangling the girl on a bed in the family home while their father sat nearby.
At one point, the video appears to show Shehbaz saying “father, tell him to let go”, but is rebuffed as his brother continues to strangle the motionless body for more than two minutes.
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When Faisal is done, his father offers him water to drink.
“The police found out on March 24 that the girl had not died of natural causes. We registered a case, becoming the complainants ourselves,” Ata Ullah, a police official in Toba Tek Singh, said by phone on Sunday.
Sattar and Faisal were immediately arrested, while Shehbaz was arrested on Saturday evening to determine the extent of his involvement, the officer said.
The murder had all the hallmarks of an “honour” killing, he added. Shehbaz’s wife, who also appears in the video, has also been arrested.
Much of Pakistani society operates under a strict code of “honour”, with women beholden to their male relatives over choices around education, employment and who they can marry.
Hundreds of women are killed by men in Pakistan every year for allegedly breaching this code.
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, 316 “honour” crimes against women were recorded in the country in 2022.
But many cases go unreported, as families tend to protect the murderers - often male relatives.
The motive for the murder has not yet been established.
Police said that Faisal, the killer, allegedly caught his sister talking on a video call with an unknown man on several occasions.
The chief minister of Punjab province, Maryam Nawaz, has designated the matter as “high profile”, a term used for cases of public interest, although the legal system still allows for men to kill women with impunity.
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In November last year, rights group Amnesty International criticised the Pakistani government for not doing enough to end the practice.
“The continued failure of the Government of Pakistan to curb the extra-legal power of jirgas, or tribal councils, to run parallel legal systems perpetuating patriarchal violence with impunity is extremely concerning,” said Nadia Rahman, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for research in South Asia.
“While repeated so-called honour killings have resulted in legislative amendments and societal outrage in the country, they remain unabated. It is not enough to arrest people after such attacks take place,” she added. “The authorities must end impunity for violence and abolish so-called village and tribal councils that prescribe such horrific crimes.”
Additional reporting by SCMP’s Asia desk
