Pakistani father arrested for publicly stoning pregnant daughter to death


On Tuesday, Farzana Parveen, 25 and pregnant, was on her way to the courthouse in Lahore, Pakistan, to contest a kidnapping charge her family had filed against her husband, Mohammad Iqbal, 45. She never made it inside. Some 20 members of Parveen's family, who objected to the marriage, beat her then stoned her to death outside the courthouse. Police arrested the father, and investigator Rana Mujahid said the police are going after everyone else who participated in the "heinous crime," The Associated Press reports.
"I killed my daughter as she had insulted all of our family by marrying a man without our consent, and I have no regret over it," the father said, according to Mujahid. Public stonings are rare in Pakistan, but "honor killings" aren't. Last month, the nonprofit Human Rights Commission of Pakistan issued a report estimating that 869 women were murdered in such "honor killings" last year alone.
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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