Kanwar Ahson was shot and critically injured while entering a courthouse in Karachi, Pakistan. Ahson was to answer charges that he and his wife, Riffat Afridi, had sex outside of marriage. Afridi’s father, brother and intended fiancee were arrested for the shooting.
Afridi, a member of the Pathan ethic group, was sentenced to death by a panel of Pathan elders for dishonoring her family by marrying Ahson, a member of the Mohajir ethnic group.
Afridi turned herself in to police officials last week. Women’s rights groups said that as many as 500 women are in jail throughout Pakistan for having sex outside of marriage.
