Pakistan 'honour killing' video sparks national outrage

A viral video showing the so-called honour killing of a couple accused of having an affair has sparked national outrage in Pakistan.

The video shows the woman, Bano Bibi, being handed a Koran by a man police have identified as her brother.

"Come walk seven steps with me, after that you can shoot me," she says, before walking forward and coming to a halt with her back to the men.

Her brother, Jalal Satakzai, then shoots her three times in the back before she falls to the ground.

He then shoots and kills the man Ms Bibi was accused of having an affair with, Ehsan Ullah Samalani.

After the video, taken in Pakistan's Balochistan province, went viral, police arrested 16 people, including a tribal chief and the woman's mother.

The mother, Gul Jan Bibi, said the killings were carried out by family and local elders based on "centuries-old Baloch traditions" and not on the orders of the tribal chief.

"We did not commit any sin," she said in a video that also went viral. "Bano and Ehsan were killed according to our customs."

She said her daughter, who had three sons and two daughters of her own, had run away with Mr Samalani and returned 25 days later.

Police said Ms Bibi's younger brother, who shot the couple, remains at large.

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Backlash after viral video

The video sparked outrage online, with hashtags such as #JusticeForCouple and #HonourKilling trending.

Dozens of activists protested in the provincial capital of Quetta on Saturday to demand an end to parallel justice systems.

Balochistan's chief minister Sarfraz Bugti said it was a "test" case and vowed to dismantle the illegal tribal courts operating outside the law.

Police had said a jirga, an informal tribal council which issues extrajudicial rulings, had ordered the killings.

While honour killings in Pakistan were made illegal in 2016, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan reported at least 405 in 2024, most of them women killed by relatives claiming to defend family honour.