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Pakistan Court Orders Brothers’ Noses, Ears Cut Off | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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LAHORE, Pakistan (R) – A Pakistani court has ordered that two brothers should have their noses and ears cut off after they were found guilty of doing the same to a woman who refused to marry one of them, a government prosecutor said on Tuesday.

The judge at an anti-terrorism court in the eastern city of Lahore handed down the sentences on Monday in line with the Islamic law of Qisas.

The law was introduced in Pakistan during the military rule of General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq in 1979. It stipulates punishment equal to the crime, akin to an eye-for-an-eye, unless the culprit is pardoned by the victim or the victim’s family.

The two brothers, Sher Mohammad and Amanat Ali, abducted their 22-year-old cousin, Fazeelat Bibi, at gunpoint in September after her father refused to let her marry Mohammad.

“They put a noose around her neck and tried to strangle her. After failing to do so, Sher Mohammad chopped of her nose and two ears with a knife,” government prosecutor Ehtesham Qadir told Reuters.

Such sentences are rarely handed down by Pakistani courts and have always been revoked on appeal.

The court also sentenced the pair to life in prison, Qadir said, adding three of their accomplices were on the run.

Qadir said the mother of the girl died of heart attack on seeing the condition of her daughter.