Honour killing: Report confirms woman was murdered

The mother of three was allegedly killed by her brother after being declared kari.

HARIPUR:

The autopsy of an Afghan woman allegedly killed in the name of ‘honour’ has confirmed she was murdered, police sources said on Thursday.

The body was exhumed on Wednesday in the presence of a judicial magistrate, who had ordered a post-mortem report of the woman. The report confirmed she had died after being shot three times in the chest.

According to the police, Rakheema Bibi, a resident of Panian Afghan Camp No 11, was killed by her brother, Mohibullah, after a tribal jirga declared her “kari”.

The brother then secretly buried his sister’s body in the local graveyard and told the locals that she had died of natural causes after consuming some tablets for kidney pain.

According to family sources, Rakheema had begged for forgiveness but her husband handed her over to her brother, who shot her dead with an AK-47 rifle in the early hours of Monday.

Police said the woman was caught having ‘illicit relations’ with her father-in-law, Muhammad Yasin. Her husband, Juma Khan, took the matter to a jirga, which declared both the woman and her father-in-law “liable to be killed for bringing disgrace to their tribe.”

As per the jirga’s judgement, the mother of three was shot and killed by her brother; whereas Yasin, who was to be killed by his son, managed to escape and informed the police.

A case was registered, following which Mohib, Khan, Yasin and seven members of the jirga were arrested and sent to Haripur jail on judicial remand.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2012.