A pregnant woman has been stoned to death by her own relatives in Pakistan as punishment for marrying against the wishes of her family.
Farzana Parveen, 25, had been preparing to testify in defence of her husband, Mohammad, at the high court of Lahore, after her father had claimed that he had kidnapped her. The family had wanted Farzana to marry her cousin instead.
According to PTI, the family fired shots into the air as they approached the couple and tried to snatch Farzana from her husband. Failing to take control of her, the group, which included her father and brothers, beat the couple with sticks and pelted them with bricks and stones.
Mohammad managed to escape, but Farzana was killed in the attack in front of the courthouse, while a crowd of onlookers did nothing to intervene.
All of the attackers managed to escape except for for the father who admitted to the police that had killed his duaghter, claiming it was for “honour”, according to the Washington Post.
Arranged marriages remain the norm amongst conservative Pakistani families, and hundreds of women are murdered each year in such “honour killings”, according to AP.