The death of a British woman whose family claimed came by natural causes while in Pakistan last month is now being investigated as a murder. Twenty eight year old Samia Shahid, who lived in Bradford, is believed to have been strangled by her relatives as an honor killing.
Shahids husband, Syed Mukhtar Kazam, believes she was killed by her family because they disapproved of their marriage, which was Shahids second. Her family originally reported to authorities that she had died of natural causes while visiting them in Northern Punjab but an autopsy following her death showed signs of strangulation and struggle.
As revealed by the Pakistani paper “The News“, the post-mortem tests stated that Shahids death was clearly caused by suffocation and was physically restricted from breathing, not a heart attack as her family first claimed.
Shahids ex-husband and cousin, Choudhry Shakeel, is currently on a pre-arrest bail order and cannot be contacted by police until it expires. While Shahids father, Mohammed Shahid, and other cousin, Mobeen Mohammed, have been interviewed by investigators, no arrests have been made.
Kazam says that Shahid had expressed concern after her family had threatened her life before she left for the trip.
The West Yorkshire Police Department stated that so far they have not been contacted by Pakistani officials for assistance in the investigation.
This latest story comes just weeks after another Pakistani woman died by honor killing after her brother confessed he strangled her for straying from Muslim tradition and becoming a fashion model.
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