The 26-year-old victim was a social media starlet where she always appeared neatly combed and made up, in provocative poses, sometimes considered scandalous by her most conservative compatriots.
The assassination of the young woman had caused a shock wave in Pakistan, where hundreds of women are killed each year by relatives on the pretext that they have tarnished the family honor. Since a recent change in Pakistani law, the parents of a victim of an “honour killing” can no longer forgive his killer, often a family member, which until then made it possible to exempt the latter from the action of justice.
On Monday, an appeals judge ruled that Baloch’s murder could not be qualified as an “honour” killing. He rejected Muhammad Waseem’s confession and acquitted him. At first, the parents of Qandeel Baloch had affirmed that there would be “no forgiveness” for their son, before changing their mind and apologizing for his act. According to the mother’s lawyer, Safdar Shah, she said she had given “her consent” to forgive.
Muhammad Waseem, who was arrested immediately after the death of his sister, was released from a prison in the eastern city of Multan on Saturday after six years in detention.