The husband of a Pakistani woman slain in an "honor killing" says that he murdered his first wife so he could remarry.
Mohammad Iqbal said that he wanted to marry Farzana Parveen six years ago, so he killed his wife.
Punjab Police District Inspector General Zulfiqar Hameed told CNN that Iqbal was arrested but released after his son forgave him. Iqbal's son, Aurengzeb, confirmed the story, and said that his father spent a year in prison for the murder.
Iqbal went on to marry Parveen, 25, on January 7, 2014.
Parveen was engaged to marry her cousin, but was in love with Iqbal, according to Lahore police.
Iqbal told CNN that Parveen's family was outraged by her choice, and demanded he pay them 100,000 rupees ($1,000) to save their lives. Iqbal, who was a farmer in a Jurranwala, Punjab village, was unable to pay.
Parveen's family then filed kidnapping charges against her husband, and she traveled to the Lahore High Court on May 27 to argue that the marriage was not forced. She was outside the Court, waiting for the building to open, when she was attacked.
A barrage of bricks were thrown at her by her father, brothers, fiancé, and others, and she suffered severe head trauma. Parveen, who was three months pregnant, was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.
A senior police officer, Umer Cheema, told Reuters that about a dozen men escaped, but Iqbal's father was captured.
Cheema said that the father admitted his role in the murder, and said that it was an "honor killing."
Some cultures believe that when a person commits an act that is considered shameful to their family, they may be killed. Pakistani law allows the family to nominate who will carry out the act, and then forgive the perpetrators.
Rarely are the killers prosecuted or convicted, and they may even walk free after a conviction.
Parveen's attorney, Rai Ghulam, said that he will pursue double homicide charges against the assailants.
"The actual culprits must be punished," he told CNN. "They should not get the benefit of honor because they planned the entire thing.
"They must be punished because this is not a single, but a double, murder."
