The husband of the pregnant woman who was stoned to death by her family in Pakistan on Tuesday said he killed his first wife so he could marry her.
The late Farzana Parvana's husband Mohammad Iqbal spoke with CNN and said that he murdered his first wife six years ago in order to marry the 25-year-old. "I wanted to send a proposal to Farzana so I killed my wife."
Iqbal was arrested after his son reported the murder, but he only spent a year in jail because his son eventually forgave him. Pakistani law allows a family member of the victim to forgive the killer, allowing them to go free.
As previously reported, Parveen's family publicly stoned the woman, who was three months pregnant, to death because she went against their prearranged marriage plans to her cousin as she wanted to marry for love. The family waited outside of Lahore High Court where the married couple were arguing against an abduction charge her father filed against Iqbal.
Only the father was still around when police showed up and he willingly admitted to the killing, calling it an "honor killing," which is all too common form of punishment doled, most often aimed at women. Many honor killings are done by a family member so as to exploit the forgiveness law.
It was also revealed that Parveen's family demanded $1,000 (100,000 rupees) to not kill the married couple, which they didn't have. That amount was on top of the already 80,000 rupees and jewelry Iqbal gave to the family in order to try and convince them to let him marry Parveen.