Pakistani gets life for high profile murder

KARACHI: The brother of Pakistani social media star Qandeel Baloch was on Friday convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison in the patriarchal country’s highest-profile “honor killing.”

Baloch, who shot to fame for her risqué selfies — tame by Western standards, but considered provocative in deeply misogynistic Pakistan — was strangled in July 2016.

Her brother Muhammad Waseem was arrested. Days later he told a press conference that he had no remorse over what he did, saying that “of course” he had murdered his sister and that her behavior had been “intolerable.”

His lawyer, Sardar Mehmood, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) the court in the eastern city of Multan had found his client guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment, in a longawaited verdict.

“Inshallah (God willing), he will be acquitted by a high court,” he said. Earlier, Baloch’s mother Anwar Mai told AFP she had hoped her son would be acquitted.

“He is innocent. She was my daughter and he is my son,” she said.

Baloch’s murder made international headlines and reignited calls for action against an epidemic of so-called “honor killings,” in which a victim — usually a woman — is murdered for flouting patriarchal social codes.

Women have been burned, shot, stabbed and strangled for offenses such as choosing their own husband or — in Baloch’s case — bringing “shame” on their family by celebrating their sexuality.

The killings are usually carried out by a close relative. Under Pakistan’s

( blood money) and (retribution) law, they can then seek forgiveness from a victim’s relatives.

Three months after Baloch’s murder, parliament passed new legislation mandating life imprisonment for honour killings.