16-year-old girl murdered by father over TikTok account in Rawat, Pakistan

Mehak Shehzadi
Age: 16
Shot dead: July 8, 2025
Place of residence: Rawat, Rawalpindi District
Origin: Pakistan
Perpetrator: Father, Ikhlaq Ahmed

In Rawat, a town in the Rawalpindi District near the Pakistani capital Islamabad, 16-year-old Mehak Shehzadi was shot dead by her father on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, because she refused to delete her TikTok account. According to the police, the father acted "in the name of honor." He was arrested after the crime.

The family initially tried to present the murder as a suicide, but police investigations revealed the true circumstances.

Last month, 17-year-old TikTok influencer Sana Yousaf was also murdered. She had hundreds of thousands of followers on social media and was killed at home by a man whose advances she had rejected.

This kind of honor-related violence linked to online visibility is not limited to Pakistan. In 2021, 19-year-old Hadeel Alharthi was stabbed to death by her brother in Saudi Arabia because she had a public TikTok account. In that case too, "family honor" played a central role in the violence against a young woman who expressed herself online.

What is an honour killing?

An honour killing is a murder in the name of honour. If a brother murders his sister to restore family honour, it is an honour killing. According to activists, the most common reasons for honour killings are as the victim:

refuses to cooperate in an arranged marriage.
wants to end the relationship.
was the victim of rape or sexual assault.
was accused of having a sexual relationship outside of marriage.

Human rights activists believe that 100,000 honour killings are carried out every year, most of which are not reported to the authorities and some are even deliberately covered up by the authorities themselves, for example because the perpetrators are good friends with local policemen, officials or politicians. Violence against girls and women remains a serious problem in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Serbia and Turkey.