Pakistan: 'Woman burnt alive by husband for visiting sister without permission'

A Pakistani woman has been burnt alive by her husband and her father-in-law for leaving the house without permission, it is claimed.

According to a police report, 25-year-old Shabana Bibi had visited her sister without consent from husband Muhammad Siddique who, enraged, beat her, doused her with petrol and set her alight with the aid of his father.

Bibi died in a hospital on 19 April after suffering 80% burns to her body.

The two men were arrested and charged with murder and terrorism, police chief Rai Zameer-ul-Haq told AFP. The terrorism charges are often used to speed up the legal process, he added.

Bibi's brother said his sister had been married to Siddique for three years, and claimed she had suffered repeated abuse as the couple could not have children.

Pakistan and India are the countries where the practice of honour killing is most widespread. According to a 2014 report by the Honour Based Violence Awareness (HBVA), there are 1,000 honour killings in each country every year.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) warned earlier in April that honour killing in Pakistan increased in 2014. The report said that 1,005 people were killed last year, compared to 869 in 2013.

The Aurat Foundation, a campaign group that works to improve the lives of women in Pakistan, said more than 3,000 women have been slain in honour killings since 2008.

Last December, a Pakistani couple and three of their four children were axed to death in an honour killing attack believed to be in retaliation after the woman married a cousin some 28 years before.

The quintuple murder occurred a few weeks after two teenage brothers confessed to killing their mother and two stepsisters after accusing them of behaving immorally.

Previously, a young girl was burnt alive by the man she had refused to marry.