Say What? Mom kills daughter for marrying against her wish

A mother who murdered her daughter and set her ablaze for daring to marry the man of her choice has been sentenced to death, in a case that had revolted many in Pakistan.

16yrs old Zeenat Bibi was doused with kerosene and set alight last June in Pakistan’s teeming cultural capital Lahore, a little over a week after she wed her 20-year-old lover, a mechanic identified as Hasan Khan, against her family’s wishes.

There are many so called "honour killing" in that part of the world.

A judge in an anti-terror court in Lahore sentenced her mother Perveen Bibi to death on murder and terrorism charges, prosecutor Mian Mohammad Tufail told AFP.

She was charged under Pakistan’s terrorism laws rather than newly-reformed criminal legislation against honour killings because of the use of kerosene in the murder, Tufail said.

Bibi also received a 14-year jail term and was fined one million rupees ($9,300) under separate counts related to the killing. Her son Mohammad Anees was jailed for life and fined 1.5 million rupees for his role in the killing.

Bibi’s son-in-law, the husband of another daughter, was acquitted.

Zeenat’s vicious murder sent shockwaves across Pakistan and triggered fresh calls for action against so-called “honour killings”.

Hundreds of women are killed by their relatives each year for allegedly bringing shame on their families in the deeply conservative Muslim country, for marrying men of their choice. Sigh!