ISLAMABAD: A court on Saturday denied bail to the father of a British woman believed to have been the victim of an honour killing.Samia Shahid, a dual national, was murdered in July during a visit to her family village in Punjab province.There was a hearing into the bail application by Samia Shahid’s father, but the court rejected it, defence lawyer Mian Arif told AFP.Arif said that the next hearing would take place next week in the city of Jhelum, while the accused would file another bail petition to the Punjab’s high court.
The victims’s second husband, Mukhtar Kazam, claims she was murdered for bringing dishonour to her family. Kazam has said his wife had angered her parents by converting to Shia Islam, his sect, before their wedding.Police have accused her ex-husband Muhammad Shakeel and father Muhammad Shahid of being involved in her killing.Shahid’s ex-husband has also been charged with raping her.
Police have also accused Samia’s mother and sister of abetting the crime; however, the two have fled to the UK, according to police. The chief of the local police station was later arrested for helping them escape.Kazam and Shahid, both dual British-Pakistani citizens, had been married for two years and were living in Dubai.At a news conference in August, Kazam presented a copy of the post-mortem report into his wife’s death that said the 28-year-old had marks on her neck, suggesting she had been strangled.
Shahid’s father has denied the charges, claiming his daughter died of natural causes.Hundreds of women are murdered by relatives in the conservative Muslim nation each year on the pretext of defending what is seen as family honour.Rights groups and politicians have for years called for tougher laws to tackle perpetrators of violence against women in Pakistan.
