A 16-year-old girl in rural Pakistan was drugged, strangled and burned alive on the orders of village elders for helping a couple elope.
Tribal leaders of the village of Makol decided to make an example of Amber, 16, after she helped her friend Asma to escape with her lover to marry.
Amber’s charred remains were found in the seat of a van set ablaze outside the village last Friday.
Most of its members have been arrested, including Asma’s father Safdar. UK Telegraph reports..
Amber’s body was doused in petrol and set ablaze in an attempt to hide the extra-judicial killing from police.
The jirga’s decision was led by Sardar Pervaz, described by police a “notorious” leader of whom the entire village is afraid.
Having passed sentence on Amber, Pervaz dispatched jirga member Sardar Saeed to her home on Friday night, where Amber’s mother was told to hand over her daughter or face her entire family being burnt alive in their home.
Shamim Raisat, Amber’s mother, was initially arrested for failing to report the crime, but later gave a statement to police explaining that she had been under duress and feared for her remaining family’s lives.
In her statement, she said: “After the threats and killing of my daughter, I decided to kept my lips tight. Sardar Pervaz and the other jirga members are very influential and we are unable to face them
The couple which the teenager is alleged to have helped elope appeared to have escaped.A local anti-terrorism court on Thursday remanded the 15 suspects into police custody for two weeks on murder and terrorism charges.