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( 4UMF NEWS ) Pakistani Mother Sentenced To Death After Burning Daughter Alive: When she learned that her daughter Zeenat Rafiq had married a man of her choosing, Parveen Bibi allegedly complained that she'd brought shame to the family and beat her until she bled; days later, she burned the 18-year-old alive. A Pakistani court on Monday convicted Bibi of the killing and sentenced her to death. The mother was sentenced in court in Lahore City. Her son, Anees Rafique, was also sentenced to life in prison for allegedly helping his mother kill his sister, but his defense lawyer, Shahid Iqbal, said he had no role and was wrongly convicted. Zeenat's husband, Hassan Khan, told the BBC that her family never approved of their relationship and that she often complained about the abuse she had to endure. "When she told her parents about us, they beat her so severely she was bleeding from her mouth and nose,” Khan said in his native Urdu language. A week after they married last June, Zeenat’s family promised reconciliation and to have a celebration. Rafiq grew suspicious and told her husband, “They are not going to spare me,” the BBC reported. “She didn't want to go, but my family convinced her. How were we to know they would kill her like this?" Kahn said. Authorities say Zeenat showed signs of strangulation and was beaten by Bibi and Rafique before her mother poured kerosene on her and set her on fire, Reuters reported. Zeenat’s family never claimed her body and was laid to rest by Kahn’s family in Lahore instead. When police arrived at the residence, they found Zeenat’s charred body near a staircase and arrested her mother soon after. Bibi confessed to police that she had no regrets for punishing her daughter, CBS News reported. More than 1,000 women in Pakistan were murdered by their own relatives in 2015 in the name of the family’s honor, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Source

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