Pakistani Man Free After Mother Pardons Him for Killing ‘Flirty’ Internet Star Sister

A judge in Pakistan released a man who had been jailed for strangling to death his sister after throwing out the man’s confession and allowing the victim’s mother to pardon her own son. Muhammad Waseem, 38, was acquitted on Monday and released from jail in the eastern city of Multan on Saturday after a court ruled that strangling to death his sister, social media star Qandeel Baloch, after calling her online behavior “intolerable,” was not a so-called honor killing. Descriptions in the press called her appearance “suggestive” and “flirty.” Public outcry in Pakistan against the practice of family members forgiving “honor killings,” which allowed the perpetrators to go free, led to legislation that imposed mandatory life sentences in such cases. But by not defining this as an honor killing, the perpetrator again became eligible for a pardon from the victim’s family – in this case, the mother of both victim and the confessed, convicted murderer. Politician Maleeka Bokharia said the government was “undertaking a review of legal options” for reversing the decision and returning the man to prison. Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the government would challenge the verdict in Pakistan’s high court. “We as a nation should be ashamed of such [legal] system,” Chaudhry said on Twitter.