Pakistani social media model strangled by her brother in suspected 'honor killing'

A Pakistani model and social media star named Qandeel Baloch, 25, was strangled to death by her brother as she slept, officials said Saturday.

Baloch had recently stirred controversy among her country's conservatives by posting a video and several selfies of herself with Islamic cleric Mufti Qavi. After the photos attracted widespread attention, Qavi lost his position on an official committee, and Baloch's brothers asked her to quit modeling. Before she was murdered in what is believed to be an "honor killing," Baloch announced her plan instead was to move abroad for safety reasons.

There are hundreds of similar murders in Pakistan each year, often carried out by family members to punish women perceived to have violated moral norms. Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif promised in February to pass specific anti-honor killing legislation but so far has failed to do so.

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