British woman killed in ‘honour killing’ was raped before death, say police
POLICE investigating the death of a British woman in an ‘honour killing’ say she was raped before she died in Pakistan.
Samia Shahid died in a suspected honour killing
Samia Shahid, 28, from Bradford, was found dead in July of what were assumed to be natural causes, and buried in a local cemetery in the country's eastern Punjab province.
But a fresh inquiry was ordered after her second husband Syed Mukhtar Kazam publicly accused her family of killing her because they opposed Mrs Shahid's decision to divorce her first husband in 2014 and marry him.
The police inquiry concluded that Mrs Shahid had been strangled and her first husband Choudhry Shakeel has been detained as the prime suspect.
On Saturday Pakistani police spokeswoman Nabila Ghazanfar said a forensic examination confirmed the victim was raped before her death.
Samia Shahid’s first husband Choudhry Shakeel has been detained as the prime suspect in the murder investigation
A local police chief has been suspended for mishandling the case, and for allowing Mrs Shahid's mother and sister to flee the country.
Investigators are seeking their return for questioning.
Mrs Shahid's second husband Syed Mukhtar Kazam publicly accused her family of his wife's killing
Her father has also been detained by police.
Mrs Shahid married her second husband in Leeds in September 2014 after she left her first husband, who was a cousin from Pakistan.
Mr Kazam said his wife moved to live with him in Dubai last year but had made trips to the UK to talk to her parents about the relationship and went to Pakistan on July 14.
Qandeel Baloch was killed by her brother in a suspected honour killing
Mr Kazam said his wife had been healthy and he did not believe her family's initial claims that she died naturally.
An estimated 1,000 women are killed every year by family members in so-called "honour killings" in Pakistan.
Mrs Shahid’s death comes after Qandeel Baloch, who is known as Pakistan's Kim Kardashian, was killed by her brother in a suspected honour killing.