Samia Shahid case: Father bailed 'due to lack of evidence'

Samia Shahid died while visiting relatives in Pandori in northern Punjab

The father of an alleged "honour killing" victim has been granted bail in Pakistan "due to lack of evidence".

Samia Shahid, 28, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, died in Pakistan in July.

Chaudhry Muhammad Shahid is being held as a suspected accessory to the crime, with Ms Shahid's ex-husband accused of murder.

Lahore High Court heard the prosecution provided insufficient incriminatory evidence for him to be kept in police custody.

The prosecution claim Mr Shahid, who has been in custody since July, was involved in planning her journey to Pakistan in July and also assisted in her murder.

Their arguments were based on Ms Shahid's conversations with friends and differences in the statements of her father in police reports, but the court said it could not accept this as evidence at the bail hearing.

Mr Shahid will be released on bail shortly, with police investigations continuing.

Arrest warrants issued

Neither Chaudhry Muhammad Shakeel, who is accused of her murder, nor Mr Shahid have been formally charged.

Ms Shahid, a beautician, married her second husband in Leeds in 2014 and the couple moved to Dubai.

Her second husband Syed Mukhtar Kazim claimed his wife, who died while visiting relatives, was killed because her family disapproved of their marriage.

Initially it was claimed she had died of a heart attack, but a post-mortem examination found she had been strangled.

In October, police said they wanted to question Ms Shahid's mother, Imtiaz BiBi, and sister, Madiha Shahid, with arrest warrants issued after they failed to appear at a court appearance.