LAHORE: Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry said he was “ashamed” of Pakistan’s legal system after a man sentenced to life in prison in 2019 for strangling his sister — a model on social media — was acquitted of murder after his parents pardoned him.
Waseem Azeem was arrested in 2016 after he confessed to killing Qandeel Baloch, 26, for posting what he called “shameful” pictures on Facebook.
He was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison but his parents had sought his release, said Sardar Mahboob, a lawyer who represents Azeem and his family.
The laws allow a murder victim’s family to pardon a convicted killer.
Baloch’s murder at the time drew nationwide condemnation, but critics suspected Azeem could walk out of prison after his conviction if his parents forgave him.
Mahboob said Azeem could be freed as early as this week after the completion of paperwork.
“We as a nation should be ashamed of such a [legal] system,” Chaudhry tweeted.
ہمیں بحیثیت قوم ایسے نظام پر شرمندہ ہونا چاہئے https://t.co/qoxOzma5RC
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) February 14, 2022
The siblings’ mother, Anwar Bibi, welcomed the Lahore High Court (LHC) order. “I am happy over the acquittal of my son, but we are still sad for our daughter’s loss,” she said.
She told reporters that her slain daughter cannot come back “but I am thankful to the court, which ordered the release of my son at our request.”
Baloch was found strangled in her home near the city of Multan. She was killed after she posted racy pictures on Facebook of herself with a cleric, Mufti Abdul Qavi, who was later arrested for his alleged involvement in the murder.
The cleric was later freed as police said they could not establish a link to the murder.
Nearly 1,000 women are murdered by close relatives each year in so-called “honour killings” for violating conservative norms on love and marriage.
Such killings are considered murder. But the laws allow a murder victim’s family to pardon the killer, which often allows those convicted of honour killings to escape punishment.
Many netizens – among celebs – took to social media and expressed shock over the court’s ruling and condemned Waseem’s release.
Actor Osman Khalid Butt shared his two cents on the matter. Taking to Twitter, the Balu Mahi star penned, “Qandeel Baloch’s murderer walks free today after serving less than six years of his life sentence. He is on record admitting to drugging and murdering his sister. Someone please make this make sense to me.”
He went on to comment, “We are in the concluding stages of a high-profile and incredibly brutal murder case even now – how does this ruling inspire any confidence (except to the guilty) in our judicial system? Six years – and an anti-honour killing Bill – later, we’re back to square one.”
Butt concluded with, “This is not the first time sentences for heinous crimes have been reduced or overturned. Why do these loopholes still exist in our judicial system whereby murderers can eventually walk free?”
Singer Meesha Shafi, too, spoke about Waseem’s acquittal. “So Qandeel Baloch killed in cold blood,” the popular singer tweeted, adding, “Her father, who tried to pursue justice above and beyond his means.. passed away. Her murderer, her brother, alive and roaming free once again. We’re living in the opposite world.”
Activist and lawyer Nighat Dad shared, “This man who confessed to killing Qandeel, his own sister, is a free man today in the same country where Qandeel couldn’t live her life freely and was honour killed for the choices she made as a free citizen of this country.”
Another tweep added, “Qandeel Baloch’s brother who killed her for honour is acquitted by a Multan court today after the parents forgave their son. Shame on those who loved to consume Qandeel Baloch’s content but also justified her murder. Taking hypocrisy to the next level!”
Qandeel’s killing sent shockwaves across the country and triggered an outpouring of grief on social media, spurring the government to tighten laws dealing with men who would kill a close relative in the name of family honour. During the hearing on Monday, defending lawyer Sardar Mehboob argued before LHC Justice Sohail Nasir that the father of the model and complainant had passed away, adding that the witnesses had also deviated from their statements in the trial court.
He said the sessions court had ignored the settlement reached between the parties. After hearing the arguments, the court acquitted Waseem by cancelling his life imprisonment. “He has been fully acquitted”, his lawyer Mehboob told AFP, without giving further details. The court order has yet to be made public.
