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Ex-Husband, Father Of Slain British-Pakistani Woman In Court


Mukhtar Kazam, the husband of Samia Shahid, displays her postmortem report during a press conference in Rawalpindi on July 28.
Mukhtar Kazam, the husband of Samia Shahid, displays her postmortem report during a press conference in Rawalpindi on July 28.

The father and first husband of a British-Pakistani woman suspected to have been the victim of a so-called honor killing in Pakistan have appeared in court.

Samia Shahid, 28, died last month in northern Punjab, where she was visiting relatives.

Police say she died as a result of being strangled.

Her husband, Mukhtar Kazam, says she was murdered because she married him against the family's wishes.

Shahid's first husband, Choudhry Shakeel, has been arrested on suspicion of her murder while her father, Muhammad, has been held as an accessory to murder.

Both appeared on August 13 in court in Jhelum, 130 kilometers east of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, and were remanded for four days while the investigation continues.

The men have not been charged.

Hundreds of Pakistani women are killed each year by relatives who accuse them of violating conservative social or religious norms.

Based on reporting by AFP and the BBC
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