Samia Shahid death: 'Honour killing victim' strangled, police say

MP Naz Shah has written to the prime minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, calling for Ms Shahid's body to be exhumed

A woman whose husband claims she was the victim of a so-called honour killing in Pakistan was strangled, police say.

Samia Shahid, 28, from Bradford, died last month in Northern Punjab.

Deputy Inspector General Abu Bakr Khuda Bux revealed to the BBC how she died, following the launch of a murder inquiry based on information they got from her husband, Syed Mukhtar Kazim.

No arrests have been made in the case, he confirmed.

However, Ms Shahid's father, Chaudhry Muhammad Shahid, and a cousin known as Mobeen have both been interviewed by officers, though neither have been detained.

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Her first husband Chaudhry Muhammad Shakeel, who was previously reported to be on the run, is in Pakistan on pre-arrest bail order, which means police know his whereabouts, but cannot arrest, or demand to interview him, until the order expires on Saturday.

Pakistani daily The News revealed the forensic report, released earlier, confirmed Ms Shahid had been murdered and her death had not been from natural causes.

The paper said the report stated clearly her death was caused by suffocation, having been physically stopped from breathing.

Post-mortem tests stated her death was as a result of strangulation.

Samia Shahid with husband Syed Mukhtar Kazim

The report was handed to the chief minister's investigating committee, it said.

Ms Shahid worked as a beautician in Bradford and married her second husband, Syed Mukhtar Kazim, in Leeds in 2014.

She had left her first husband, who is also her cousin, after a year of marriage.

Mr Kazim said his wife had moved to Dubai with him in 2015.

He believes his wife, who had gone to Pakistan to visit relatives, was killed because her family disapproved of their marriage.

Her family had initially claimed she had died of a heart attack.

He said that before she left, her family had threatened her life.