A court in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province has handed down life sentences to three men in connection with one of the country's most notorious "honor killing" cases.
The trio were sentenced over the 2012 murder of three women in the mountainous northern region of Kohistan.
The court in the town of Besham on September 5 acquitted five other men.
Those sentenced included a brother and the fathers of two of the slain women.
The killings occurred soon after a video emerged of the women singing and clapping to music at a wedding in the deeply religious and conservative region.
The clip also showed a man dancing, although he was never in the same shot as the women. A second man is said to have been filming.
The two men remain in hiding, while the fate of two other women in the video are unknown.
The public learnt of the video when the two men's brother, Afzal Kohistani, claimed that the women had been murdered after a tribal council ordered their executions for allegedly breaching the honor of the family.
Kohistani, 31, was shot dead in March in the city of Abbottabad, north of Islamabad.
Police arrested his nephew, Faizur Rahman, over the killing.
Hundreds of women are killed every year in Pakistan in honor killings for violating what Pakistani conservatives consider traditions on love, marriage, and public behavior.
Pakistan's parliament passed legislation against honor killings in 2016, introducing tough punishment and removing a loophole in the law that allowed killers to walk free if pardoned by family members.
Editors' Picks
Afghanistan/Pakistan Trending
1
Serbia Deepens Military Ties With China Through Drones, Air Defense Systems
2Iran Seizes Foreign Oil Tanker With 18 Crew Members
3Several Protesters Reported Dead In Iran As Anger Builds Over Dismal Economy
4Why Are So Many Leaders Warning Of War With Russia?
5Tanks On The Tree: Russian Military Ornaments Are Out In Force This Year
6Belarus Jailing Citizens For Supporting Ukraine's Fight Against Russia
7Costs Mount As Afghanistan-Pakistan Trade War Strands Thousands Of Trucks
8Why Israel Now Eyes Iran's Missiles Over Nukes Ahead Of Netanyahu-Trump Talks
9Shortcut To Zaporizhzhya: Russian Forces Creep Across Drained Reservoir After Dam Breach
10Kremlin 'Reopens' Mariupol Theater It Destroyed, But No Shows Are Scheduled
RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.
If you are in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine and hold a Russian passport or are a stateless person residing permanently in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine, please note that you could face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on, or saving our content, or for contacting us.
To find out more, click here.