The man who killed his sister, nicknamed the “Kim Kardashian” of Pakistan, to allegedly cleanse his family’s honor was released from prison after spending only six years behind bars.
Muhammad Waseem strangled to death his sister Qandeel Baloch, aged 16 on 15 July 2016.
Baloch was a model, and a well-known influencer on social media, where with her explicit and challenging posts she challenged the patriarchal hierarchy in the country and the oppression against women.
Three years after the murder, Waseem was sentenced to life in prison. However, her mother’s forgiveness may have facilitated her release.
In the 2019, others six involved in Baloch’s murder were acquitted.
In statements to the press, the brother said that he did not feel remorse for what he had done because his brother’s behavior was “intolerable”, this in reference to Qandeel Baloch’s publications on networks such as Facebook.
The man appealed, in the 2019, the verdict of life imprisonment. In a hearing this week in the city of Multan, a court overturned the conviction after several witnesses retracted their statements to the authorities.
In addition, his mother Anwar Mai submitted a statement to the court indicating that she forgave him, although it is not clear if the judicial authorities considered the request of the parent.
The court order has not yet been publicly announced, but a prosecutor confirmed the decision.
This case transcended the country and dramatized the injustice surrounding honor killings in which women are the main victims of relatives who kill them under the argument that their behavior affects the family’s reputation.
Under recent changes in the laws of Pakistan, murderers can no longer request that the family of that the victims forgive them and that their sentences be commuted.
However, the final decision remains with the judge, and the murderers can allege any other reason to seek forgiveness.
In a conference after the murder, Waseem himself admitted that he killed his sister upset by his activities and exposure on social networks. Initially, the parents insisted that they would not ask for their son’s acquittal, but later changed their minds. The reasons are not clear.
You may be interested in:
“My son suffocated his sister”: the lament of the parents of the Pakistani “Kim Kardashian”