Farzana Parveen was stoned to death in Pakistan for going against her family’s wishes and marrying the man she loved, and now her grieving husband is seeking justice.
Parveen was pregnant when family members ambushed her outside a courthouse in the country’s eastern Punjab province. She had gone there with husband Iqbal to contest a complaint her father had filed accusing Mohammad Iqbal of abducting the woman.
The family members then stoned the woman to death in a so-called “ honor killing .”
Police acted quickly, arresting the woman’s father shortly after the killing. But Iqbal said he wants justice for his wife’s murder and the others involved to face the consequences.
“We demand justice. We were being threatened since we got married,” he said.
Iqbal said that he and his wife were in love despite the protests from her family.
“We loved each other. We got married on January 7, 2014 and my wife was three months’ pregnant,” Iqbal told The Associated Press . “My wife wanted to tell the court that I had not kidnapped her. We were going to the court with our lawyer Mustafa Kharal, and we were near the court when three dozen people suddenly attacked us.”
Iqbal added that it was actually family members who killed Farzana Parveen.
“I saw a young woman from my wife’s family slapping her. Some people were also beating me… I tried to save my wife’s life, but I failed,” he said.
Iqbal said the most difficult part was the fact that no one stepped in to stop the killing.
“The most painful thing is that nobody came forward to save my wife, the police were there and hundreds of lawyers were there along with ordinary men, but they all just watched like spectators,” he said.
Farzana was laid to rest before about 100 mourners from her husband’s family. Mohammad Iqbal said the funeral had to be held at 2 am because of the gruesome state of her body after the stoning.
Police are searching for the others involved in the murder of Farzana Parveen.
