Pakistani celebrity killed by her own brother for ‘family honor’

That hate speeches roll loose on the internet, everyone already knows. What rarely really captures our attention is the awareness that even the smallest of comments online can sustain far, far more heinous acts in the real world. Last Friday (15), a controversial Pakistani social media celebrity was choked to death by her own brother, Muhammad Waseem. He claimed to be unrepentant, and to have defended his family’s “honor” by killing her.

Qandeel Baloch, whose real name was Fauzia Azeem, was 26 years old and had more than 120,000 followers on her Instagram account – which is currently deactivated. When looking up her name on Google, one of the first suggestions you might come across is “Qandeel Baloch hot”, or “Qandeel Baloch hot”. That’s because, in her photos, the young woman was not afraid to expose her personal life. For us, used to the Kardashians, this may seem banal, but in Malala Yousafzai’s country, the act is all, minus that.

In a report to the American BuzzFeed, the Pakistani reporter Imaan Sheikh claims that “we all killed Qandeel”, meaning that the traditions of her country (and South Asia as a whole) are extremely hostile, if not lethal, to the lives of her women. . “Many described the videos as ‘shameless,’” she says. “But in a country where ‘being a woman’ has long been defined by different versions and degrees of shame, her ‘shamelessness’ struck me as a revolution”.

On social networks, Qandeel ventured to talk about matters restricted to the family sphere in Pakistan, such as the fact that her ex-husband (whom she was forced to marry at just 17 years old) threatened to burn her face with acid. The young woman used to receive extremely hostile comments on her social networks, and, after the announcement of her death, many still celebrated on the internet.

#QandeelBaloch killed by her own brother, and Pakistanis are happy. Shocking to see that even women join them!!

In an interview with Al Jazeera, several Pakistanis spoke about the murder. “I don’t agree with Qandeel’s behavior in his videos and photos”, reveals Shamayel Tareen, actress. “But I avoided visiting his pages. We are no one to judge.”