Watchdog

The husband of a Pakistani woman who was stoned to death for marrying against her family's wishes says police stood by as his wife was killed.

Farzana Parveen, 25, was attacked by a mob of men, including her own relatives, in Lahore on May 27.

In an interview with RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, Muhammad Iqbal said he shouted for officers standing nearby to help his wife, but no one responded.

Parveen's father is in police custody. Police say they are hunting for the other men.

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay urged Pakistan to take "urgent measures" to end honor killings.

Khawar Mumtaz, chairperson of the National Commission on the Status of Women, said Punjab's chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif, must find and punish the perpetrators.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also urged Sharif, his brother, to act.

Mumtaz said a loophole in Pakistani law allows members of the same family who are involved in honor killings to escape punishment.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

Saba Azarpeik, an Iranian journalist working for several reformist publications, has been arrested in Tehran.

Reports say Azarpeik was taken away by security forces earlier on May 28 from the offices of the reformist "Tejarat-e Farda" weekly in the Iranian capital.

The reason for her arrest is not clear.

The outspoken Azarpeik was also arrested in January 2013 in a crackdown on several newspapers in which several reporters were arrested.

Dozens of journalists and bloggers remain behind bars in the Islamic republic, often described by media groups as one of the worst jailer of journalists in the Middle East.

On May 10, journalist Seraj Mirdamadi, who had returned to Iran in the wake of the election of President Hassan Rohani, was arrested.