“I drugged her first, then I killed her,” he said. “Girls are born to stay home and follow traditions. My sister never did that.”

In the Qur’an, a mysterious figure, known as Khidr in Islamic tradition, kills a boy in an apparently random and gratuitous attack. He then explains: “And as for the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared that he would overburden them by transgression and disbelief. 

So we intended that their Lord should substitute for them one better than him in purity and nearer to mercy.” (18:80-81)

And according to Islamic law, “retaliation is obligatory against anyone who kills a human being purely intentionally and without right.” However, “not subject to retaliation” is “a father or mother (or their fathers or mothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring’s offspring.” (Reliance of the Traveller o1.1-2).

Muslims commit 91 percent of honor killings worldwide. The Palestinian Authority gives pardons or suspended sentences for honor murders. Iraqi women have asked for tougher sentences for Islamic honor murderers, who get off lightly now. 

Syria in 2009 scrapped a law limiting the length of sentences for honor killings, but “the new law says a man can still benefit from extenuating circumstances in crimes of passion or honour ‘provided he serves a prison term of no less than two years in the case of killing.’” And in 2003 the Jordanian Parliament voted down on Islamic grounds a provision designed to stiffen penalties for honor killings. 

Al-Jazeera reported that “Islamists and conservatives said the laws violated religious traditions and would destroy families and values.” In Iran, according to the New York Times, the legal system “treats parents who murder their children with relative leniency, as the maximum sentence for the crime is only ten years.”

“Court frees brother who confessed to killing social media star Qandeel Baloch,” by Sophia Saifi, Azaz Syed and Rhea Mogul, CNN, February 15, 2022:

Karachi (CNN)The brother of murdered social media star Qandeel Baloch has been freed by a Pakistan appeals court, three years after he was convicted of killing her for “bringing dishonor” to the family.

Baloch’s murder in 2016 sparked a national outcry and promoted changes in the country’s so-called ‘honor killing’ laws.

Waseem Baloch’s lawyer, Sardar Mehmood, confirmed the acquittal with CNN Tuesday but did not provide further details. A court order has not yet been made public.

Waseem Baloch was arrested within days of the murder and confessed on video to killing his 25-year-old sister at her family home in the city of Multan in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Despite his admission, he pleaded not guilty in court and in 2019 was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Pakistan’s so-called ‘honor killings’ typically involve the murder of a woman by a relative who believes she has brought shame upon the family. At the time of Qandeel Baloch’s murder, Pakistan law allowed a murder victim’s family to pardon a convicted killer….

“This is the sorry state of not so sorry State…we are sorry Qandeel. Shocked and speechless,” she said.

In a confession video, Waseem Baloch said he was “proud” of killing his sister, adding that having his friends share her pictures and video clips was “too much” for him.

“I drugged her first, then I killed her,” he said. “Girls are born to stay home and follow traditions. My sister never did that.”