Man sentenced to death for killing teen TikTok star Sana Yousaf in Pakistan

A Pakistani court sentenced a man to death on Tuesday for murdering a teenage influencer last year, after she had repeatedly rejected his advances.

Sana Yousaf’s murder in June drew nationwide condemnation and reignited debate over women’s safety, after some online comments — alongside condolences — blamed her for her own death.

A judge announced to a cramped Islamabad courtroom on Tuesday afternoon that 22-year-old Umar Hayat was sentenced to death and fined $7,200, an AFP reporter in court saw.

Hayat shot 17-year-old TikTok star Yousaf at her home in the capital after she repeatedly rejected him, according to police and the teenager’s family.

Yousaf had millions of followers on social media, where she posted videos about food, fashion and skincare.

She also spoke openly about relationship problems, a topic still considered taboo in the Muslim majority country.

News of her killing triggered an outpouring of comments under her final post, a video celebrating her 17th birthday in which she blew out candles on a cake just days before her death.

Alongside condolence messages, some users blamed the teenager for her own murder, writing comments such as: “You reap what you sow” and “It’s deserved, she was tarnishing Islam.”

In her Instagram profile picture, she is smiling and holding sunflowers.

TikTok enjoys immense popularity in Pakistan due to its easy-to-use and visually led format, with tens of millions of users. Women have found both audience and income on the app, which is rare in a country where fewer than a quarter of the women participate in the formal economy.

But it has also faced temporary bans. The government has suspended the platform several times, citing concerns that the app promotes immoral or unlawful content.

In July, police in Pakistan said a father shot and killed his daughter after she refused to delete her TikTok account.

Violence against women is pervasive in Pakistan, according to the country’s Human Rights Commission, and cases of women being attacked after rejecting marriage proposals are not uncommon.

In 2021, 27-year-old Noor Mukadam was beheaded by her Pakistani-American boyfriendZahir Jaffer, after she rejected his marriage proposal in a case that sparked widespread anger. Jaffer was sentenced to death.

In 2016, Khadija Siddiqui survived being stabbed 23 times by an ex-boyfriend.