Pakistani Teen Influencer Shot Dead After Rejecting Man’s Advances in Suspected ‘Honor’ Killing
Sana Yousaf, a 17-year-old social media influencer from Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was shot and murdered in her home on Monday. With over 1.3 million social media followers, Yousaf had become a rising voice for female empowerment in Pakistan, sharing content that championed women’s rights.
The perpetrator, now in custody, was a man Yousaf had previously rejected. According to reports, he entered her home with the clear intent to kill, firing two shots that struck her in the chest. She was later declared dead at a local hospital.
“This isn’t just about one incident; it’s about a society that teaches men they are entitled to control, to punish, to dominate. It’s about a system that refuses to hold them accountable until a woman ends up dead. And even then, people ask what she did,” Faiza Ihsan, 30, a writer focused on gender from Hafizabad, told More to Her Story. “Sana Yousaf should be alive. She should be making plans, chasing dreams, laughing with friends, and living freely. Instead, she’s become another name in the growing graveyard of women murdered simply for existing under patriarchy.”
From Yousaf’s Instagram
From Yousaf’s Instagram
Yousaf’s murder has since gone viral online, with some men praising the act, calling it “excellent” and “very good news.”
Asra Nomani, the author of Standing Alone: A Muslim Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam, says these reactions point to a wider reality of a system where women are punished simply for exercising autonomy.
“Sana is the latest casualty in a series of murders we have seen in recent years with the slaying of women and girls with names like Amina, Sarah and Noor,” Nomani told More to Her Story. “We must remember the shame lies not with the victim, but with those who act dishonorably in the name of ‘honor.’ This wasn’t justice. It was about power and control. It was hate disguised as virtue. Around the world, girls and women are burned, mutilated, and murdered under the false banner of ‘honor.’ This is a human rights crisis. We must stand united in a global struggle to end this war on the freedom of women and girls.”
Dr. Fatima Anwar from Pakistan wrote on X: “A 17-year-old girl was murdered brutally and the people with sick mentality are writing MashaAllah (God has willed it) for murderers and supporting hypocritical notions of ‘honor.’ What a disgraceful society we’re living in!”
Yousaf’s murder is the latest in a wave of gender-based killings in Pakistan that lay bare the violent consequences of “honor” culture. Each year, hundreds of women and girls are killed—often by family members or intimate partners— in the name of so-called “honor,” reducing a woman’s life to the reputation of the men around her.