The Spanish police arrested the father of the two sisters who were killed in the name of honor. The sisters wanted to end their forced marriages and were tricked and brought back to their homeland, where their relatives allegedly killed them in the name of honor. Honor killings have become a norm in Pakistan
Six relatives of the girls were arrested, including their brother, their uncle, and the two main accused. Initial investigation revealed that the sisters were demanding divorce from their cousins, but the family did not allow them to do so and brought them to Pakistan, where their marriage was registered almost a year ago. The accused dragged the slain sisters and tried to strangle them with a scarf before shooting them in front of the children in the house.
A day after being duped into traveling to Pakistan, two sisters who had dual citizenship in Pakistan and Spain allegedly died in a “honor” killing at the hands of their husbands, uncle, and brother. Aneesa Abbas, 24, and Arooj Abbas, 21, were killed on Friday after their mother, Azra Bibi, brought them to the eastern city of Gujrat. They were shot and strangled to death.
In Pakistan, hundreds of women are killed by family members every year in so-called “honour” killings for disobeying traditional rules governing women’s relationships, despite legislation passed in 2016 closing legal loopholes that allowed offenders to get away with it in the nation’s deeply patriarchal society.
Over 470 “honor” killing cases were reported in Pakistan last year, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a non-governmental organization that works to protect human rights.
Forced marriages and honor killings cannot be justified.