Relatives confess that they murdered two Pakistani sisters residing in Spain for “honor”

Two relatives accused of the femicide of two Pakistani sisters who lived in Spain They confessed that they were killed for “honour”, after the young women requested a divorce from their cousins ​​during a “cheated” visit to Pakistan.

The maternal uncle, Muhammed Hanif, and their brother, Shehryar Abbas, strangled and killed the 20 and 24-year-old sisters, Aneesa Abbas and Arooj Abbas, last Friday. police sources in charge of the investigation told Efe on Tuesday in Pakistan.

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HONOR KILLING

“Muhammed Hanif and Shehryar confessed that they were killed for honor, because the young women wanted to marry other people in Spain”One of the policemen in charge of the investigation, Akhtar Hussain, told Efe.

Originally from the village of Nathia near the city of Gujrat, in Pakistan’s eastern province of Punjab, The young women had married their cousins ​​more than a year ago, and now their family was trying to convince them to help them emigrate to Spain.

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Hussain claimed that the young women had reached a compromise or “nikah”, which is practically equivalent to a Muslim wedding, and last Thursday they returned to Pakistan.

Their relatives tried to get the sisters to intercede for their cousins ​​with the Spanish authorities, while the sisters wanted to get a divorce after the arranged marriage and “marry others in Spain”.

“After the two sisters refused to change their decision and opposed supporting their husbands’ emigration to Spain, they were killed”said the police officer.

The sisters had a residence permit in Spain like his father, Hussain pointed out, while the mother is in the Asian country.

Both lived in the city of terracein Catalonia, where his father works and this Tuesday a rally took place in front of the town hall to show rejection of the femicide.

Police arrested six relatives suspected of the murder last Sundayand a Pakistani court yesterday decreed five days of preventive detention for the accused.

“YOUNG WOMEN ARE NOT OBJECTS”

The ones known as honor crimes They are common in South Asia and usually involve males of a family who come what they consider an affront that contravenes the conservative family morals of local societies.

“I am dismayed that a brother and his cousins ​​​​have killed them for honor”The activist and former director of the national commission for the status of women, Khawar Mumtaz, lamented to Efe.

The activist affirmed that the Pakistani State is a party to the case against the relatives and that therefore the family cannot forgive the accused, and therefore hopes that justice will be done.

“Young women are not objects, they are human beings and should be treated as such,” Mumtaz recalled.

According to data from the NGO Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), 478 honor crimes were recorded in the country last year alone. Between 2004 and May 2018, that figure rose to 17,628 cases, although it is believed that the real number could be much higher due to the lack of complaints, especially when it comes to relatives.

The Pakistani government approved in 2016 a law that prohibits the pardon of the relatives of the victims in this type of crime, a legal hole with which many men were free after killing a woman, generally a sister or a wife.

Source: Elcomercio

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