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An 18-year old woman was reportedly shot dead by her father and uncle in Pakistan in an alleged honour killing after she appeared in a viral photo that authorities suspect was doctored.
Police in the Kohistan district said the woman had been killed last week on order from elders of a tribal jirga (council), who had also called for the death of the man who appeared in the photo with her.
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Her father was arrested by authorities on a murder complaint.
Two other individuals, a young man and woman, also received death threats after their doctored photo went viral on social media, police said.
Police said both photos seemed to have been photoshopped and distributed on fake social media accounts. An investigation is underway to determine the culprit behind the photos.
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“Some people had uploaded pictures of the two girls,” deputy superintendent of police in the Kolai-Palas district Masood Khan told Reuters.
“They shot dead one of them while police rescued the second one,” he said, referring to villagers.
Authorities released her from protective custody back to her family after a court hearing determined she did not face a risk to her life at home.
Hundreds of women in Muslim Pakistan are victims of honour killings every year. A number of them have occured in Kohistan, a conservative and remote region of northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
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Honour killings are generally done by relatives who claim to be acting in defence of a family’s honour. It is believed to be rooted in tribal customs where male relatives of a woman who has interactions with unrelated men should first kill the woman, then go after the man.
Some of the most common reasons honour killings are carried out are that the victim refuses to enter an arranged marriage, is seeking divorce or separation, has been sexually assaulted or raped, or is engaging in interfaith relations. There are also more trivial reasons such as dressing in clothing, jewelry, and accessories deemed inappropriate.
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