Sher Mohammed, from the small village of Zafarkey, outside of Lahore, Pakistan, wanted to marry his 22-year-old cousin Fazeelat Bibi. So, as is the tradition in Pakistan, along with his brother Amanat and other family members, he went to her parents to ask for her hand in marriage. The parents of Fazeelat refused.
"My eldest sister was already married into their family and she was not happy and was facing a lot of problems because of their family. My parents also thought they were bad people," explained Fazeelat.
According to Fazeelat, after being turned down Sher and his family threatened her saying they would destroy her face, presumably so that no one else would be interested in her. About one month later, that is exactly what they did.
It was about 6:30 am one morning when Fazeelat was on her way home from work at the brick kiln with her brother, Sabir Ali, and elderly father. Five people jumped them. They held her brother and father at gunpoint warning that they would be killed if they tried to interfere.
While her brother and father watched in horror, they viciously beat Fazeelat and strangled her with a rope. Not content with the beating, Sher - the man who wanted to be her husband - approached her with a knife and proceeded to cut off her nose and slashed her ear. That was when Fazeelat lost consciousness. Later she awoke in the hospital:
"When I came to my senses at the hospital, I was still crying out, begging them to stop, saying the same things I was saying at the time of the attack. All I could see was the attackers in front of my eyes." she said.
After all she had been through, Fazeelat wanted her mother. She cried for her only to be told of what had happened. When Fazeelat's mother saw how Sher had disfigured her daughter, she went into shock and collapsed. She never recovered. Fazeelat Bibi's mother was dead.
Sher and his brother Amanat, were caught and tried by a court in Lahore. They were found guilty. In addition to the 70-year sentence, and $15,500 (Rs 1,300,000) fine, the court also decided to apply the rarely used Islamic law of Qisas. Islamic laws were introduced in Pakistan during the military regime of General Ziaul Haq in the 1980s.
This particular law also known as - An eye for an eye - requires that the perpetrators suffer the same treatment they inflicted upon their victim. Accordingly, the Pakistani court has ordered that the two men, Sher and Amanat Mohammad, have their ears and noses cut off, as punishment for doing the same to Fazeelat Bibi.
