LAHORE-
Lahore High Court (LHC) announced death penalty to four indicted family members of Farzana Iqbal on Wednesday, a private news channel reported.
In the month of May this year, 25 year-old and three-month pregnant Farzana Iqbal was murdered by her angry family members on a busy street outside LHC.
She is said to have been bludgeoned to death with bricks by her family members because marrying a man without the family’s consent. One of the attackers claimed to be Perveen’s husband, saying the woman married another man without divorcing him.
Judge Haroon Latif announced death penalty for Farzana’s father who had admitted of killing his daughter in the name of ‘honour’.
“I killed my daughter as she had insulted all of our family by marrying a man without our consent, and I have no regret over it,” the father was quoted as saying by police.
The death penalty was given under three different laws: the Anti-Terrorism Act, Section 302 of the criminal code which outlaws murder and third under Section 338C which outlaws murder of a pregnant woman.
Defence lawyer Mansoor Afridi said that other accused persons, her brother, a cousin and another relative are also sentenced to death and a fine of Rs. 100, 000 is also imposed.
The second brother Ghulam Ali, who was also a suspect, has been sentenced to ten years in prison with a fine of Rs. 100,000.
Family members of penalized persons protested the hearing outside the court and claimed that the false charges have been framed against them.
Afridi said that the family planned to appeal. He stated that the verdict was “a decision based on sensationalism.”
The unfortunate incident, due to its brutal nature, had sparked the rage of international community. The United Nations condemned the incident and the United States called it “heinous.
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, 869 cases of “honour killings” were reported in the media in 2013.
Pakistan currently has a moratorium on executions, meaning death row prisoners are effectively sentenced to life imprisonment.
