Pakistani Social Media Star Strangled by Brother in “Honor Killing” for Racy Posts

The video clips and photographs in the video below may look tame by comparison to even the most average Kim Kardashian photo shoot, but 25-year-old Pakistani social media star Qandeel Baloch was pushing the boundaries of what’s considered acceptable behavior from women in her country with them.

She’d been posting not just racy photos and videos of herself (by Pakistani standards, anyway) online but she was posting increasingly more political posts about women’s rights to her nearly 750,000 followers on Facebook. She first reached fame by proclaiming she would perform a live strip tease in celebration of Pakistan winning a cricket match against India. She has been referred to as a “gutsy feminist provocateur” and a “burgeoning female activist” who was challenging the status quo in Pakistan, a country where women are largely considered male property.

Ms. Baloch’s brother went on the run, but he was finally caught. He confessed to drugging and strangling his own sister her due to the “kind of pictures she had been posting online.” After he was caught, he told the media, “I am not ashamed. We are Baloch and as Baloch we cannot tolerate [this].”

BBC reported that some have celebrated Ms. Baloch’s death:

Some called her death “good news” and even praised her suspected killer. Others said it was wrong to condone her murder, even if she was flawed. Some showed outright support. Qandeel Baloch has been dubbed Pakistan’s Kim Kardashian. There are comparisons: the provocative selfies, the pursuit of celebrity, the controversial rise to notoriety. But in Pakistan, women, especially poor ones, still lack basic rights, from schooling to choosing a husband and violence against them is rife. The country struggles with sexuality and especially with “immodest” women.