Although Qandeel Baloch’s brother has been sentenced to life imprisonment, he has been completely acquitted by a Pakistani court.
Lahore:
Lawyers said the brother of a Pakistani social media star, who was murdered in the country’s most infamous “honour killing”, was acquitted on Monday after serving less than six years in prison.
Qandeel Baloch, 26, became famous for her outrageous posts that blew up in the face of the country’s deeply patriarchal customs before her death in 2016.
His brother was Muhammad Wasim was arrested and later sentenced to life imprisonment for strangulationShamelessly told the press that he had no remorse for the murder because his behavior was “unbearable”.
His lawyer Sardar Mehboob told AFP that a court in the eastern city of Multan had completely acquitted him.
The court’s order has not been made public yet.
The case became the most high-profile “honour killing” of recent years – where women are given fatalities by male relatives for “bringing shame” to a family’s reputation.
Under recent changes in Pakistani law, criminals are no longer able to apologize to the victim’s family – sometimes to their own family – and to reduce their sentence.
However, whether or not murder is defined as an offense of honor is left to the discretion of the judge, meaning that the murderer could theoretically claim a different motive and still be pardoned. could.
In Baloch’s case, his parents initially insisted that no exemption would be given to their son. But later he changed his mind and said that he wanted him to be forgiven.
According to their lawyer Safdar Shah, a lawyer for the siblings’ mother said that she had “granted her consent” to pardon them.
He is expected to be released later this week.
“Wasim can now walk free,” biographer Sanam Maher told AFP, while Qandeel was condemned for stepping outside the bounds of ‘acceptable’ treatment for women in Pakistan.
“After today’s verdict, we may ask who killed him?” she added.
Three months after Baloch’s murder, Pakistan’s parliament passed a new law making life imprisonment mandatory for honor killings.
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