Pakistan sentences man to death for killing TikTok star Sana Yousaf | Gender Equity Newsnewsline24

The verdict against Umar Hayat who killed a teenage influencer in her home ‘is for the entire society’, her father says.

A court in Pakistan has sentenced Umar Hayat, 23, to death for murdering a 17-year-old TikTok and Instagram influencer whose killing last year had reignited a debate about women’s safety.

Tuesday’s verdict “is a lesson for all such criminals in society”, said Hassan Yousaf, the father of Sana Yousaf, who was shot dead at her home on June 2 last year.

“This verdict is not just for me as an individual; it is for the entire society,” he said outside the court in Islamabad. “This is a lesson for all such criminals in society that if they commit such an act, they can get such a result,” he said.

The police arrested Hayat in Faisalabad, a city about 320km (200 miles) south of Islamabad, within 20 hours of the murder. Islamabad Inspector General Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi called it a case of “repeated rejections”.

In a recorded statement, Hayat had confessed to the crime in July, admitting to having developed a one-sided obsession with Yousaf following online interactions, a separate Dawn report said.

According to the statement, the man had travelled to Islamabad between May 28 and 29 to wish Yousaf well on her birthday, but the two could not meet, for unspecified reasons. After she refused to meet him, he grew suspicious that she was deliberately avoiding him.

The man and Yousaf then spoke by phone and decided to meet on June 2. Hayat rented a Toyota Fortuner and brought a 30-bore pistol with him.

When the suspect reached Yousaf’s house, she did not come out. However, he still managed to enter, and an argument ensued, escalating into Yousaf’s murder, which was witnessed by her mother and aunt.

In a later statement, the killer denied the sequence of events, claiming the two never quarrelled, nor had contact.

‘Honour’ killings

In recent years, several incidents have occurred involving young women being subject to violent crimes at the hands of men they know. Many of these women also had a social media presence on platforms, such as TikTok.

According to experts, Yousaf’s murder is not an isolated case, but part of a wider culture rooted in misogyny where women are punished for their independence and visibility.

“When young women assert boundaries or say no to romantic or sexual advances, it bruises the male ego, especially in a society that teaches men entitlement over women’s bodies and choices,” Nighat Dad, the executive director of a nongovernmental, research-based advocacy organisation, Digital Rights Foundation, told Al Jazeera.

“This entitlement, when left unchecked by law, culture, and platforms, turns deadly,” Dad said.

In all, 346 women in Pakistan were killed in 2024 in the name of “honour”, up from 324 in 2023, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).