The brother of a social media star has admitted strangling her to death for posting “shameful” pictures online.
Pakistani model Qandeel Baloch was killed in her family home in the country’s Punjab province after posting pictures of herself with a prominent Muslim cleric. Her brother, Waseem Azeem, was arrested on Sunday.
Baloch became a household name for her bold social media photos which challenged social norms in Pakistan, where women are often repressed by their family or the community.
She received multiple death threats and suffered frequent misogynist abuse, but continued posting provocative pictures and videos and in Facebook posts, spoke of trying to change “the typical orthodox mindset” of people in Pakistan.
Multan police chief Akram Azhar said authorities will charge Azeem with carrying out a so-called honour killing and seek the "maximum punishment".
Murder carries a potential death sentence, and the honour killing charge will make Azeem ineligible for a family pardon.
Nearly 1,000 women are killed by close relatives in Pakistan each year for violating conservative norms on love and marriage.
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