British-Pakistani woman strangulated: Autopsy report

Islamabad: A British-Pakistani woman, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances, was strangulated as she had a bruise mark on the neck and blood-stained froth was leaking from her mouth, according to an autopsy report, raising suspicions that she was a victim of "honour killing".

28-year-old Samia Shahid's family had claimed that she died on July 20 due to cardiac arrest in Mangla area of Jhelum district of Pakistan's Punjab province.

But her husband Syed Mukhtar Kazim had registered FIR on July 23 against Samia's father, mother, sister, cousin Mobeen and her former husband for allegedly murdering her as they were not happy with the marriage.

Police briefly detained the father of the woman but later released him after finding no evidence against him.

Her father has rejected the charges insisting that Samia died of 'heart attack'.

However, police said the autopsy report showed that she was strangled to death.

"There were some bruises on the neck and now the medical report confirms that she was murdered," a police official said on anonymity.

He said further probe was going on and the first phase of investigation would be completed after availability of results of more reports and tests by next week.

Samia, a resident of Dhok Pandori village, Jehlum, some 230 km from Lahore, had come to Pakistan from Dubai about two weeks ago to see her ailing father.

A beauty therapist from Bradford, Samia had previously been married to her first cousin Shakil but the couple parted ways after divorce in May 2014. She then married Kazim of Taxila in September 2014 and both started living in Dubai.

Kazim claimed in the FIR that Samia had been killed by her family who refused to accept their relationship because he was an outsider.

"Samia's mother phoned her on July 11 and asked her to come to Pakistan to see her ailing father. Samia arrived in Pakistan on July 14. She told me by phone that her father was all right and now she was feeling threats to her life.

"On July 20 his wife's phone was switched off and he contacted Mobeen, her cousin, who said that Samia had suffered a heart attack and died," Kazim said.

He said he reached Pakistan on July 21 and got a murder case registered against his in-laws.

A British MP Naz Shah was first to raise the issue when she wrote this week to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to order probe as Samia might have been killed for "honour".

Honour killing is common in Pakistan. Last week, social media sensation Qandeel Baloch was killed by her younger brother as he objected to her photos and videos.