Pakistan court denies bail in alleged ‘honour killing’

JEHLUM, Pakistan – A Pakistani court has denied bail to a man accused of slaying a British-Pakistani woman in the country’s latest so-called “honour killing.”

Samia Shahid’s father, Muhammad Shahid, and ex-husband, Muhammad Shakeel, are accused of killing her in July because she had divorced Shakeel and married a Shiite Muslim. A police investigation concluded that her father stood guard while Shakeel raped her, before the two men strangled her to death.

Najful Hussain Shah, the lawyer for the deceased woman’s husband, says the court rejected bail for Shahid on Saturday. It has not yet ruled on Shakeel’s request for bail.

Hundreds of women are murdered every year in Pakistan, often by their own relatives, for going against their families’ wishes in matters of love and marriage.