LAHORE: The sister of a woman whose brutal murder outside the Lahore High Court on Tuesday has provoked uproar in the country and abroad has claimed that she was killed by her own husband, and not by her family.

Twenty-five-year-old Farzana Parveen was beaten to death with bricl(s by over a dozen attackers, including her father and brother, for marrying a man, Mohammad Iqbal, against her family`s wishes, according to media reports.

Farzana`s father Mohammad Azeem was arrested at the scene of the attack. Four others, including her uncle, two cousins and a driver were arrested late on Thursday.

But her sister Khalida said at a press conference here on Saturday that Farzana had been killed by Iqbal and his accomplices who had shifted the responsibility to her relatives.

She said Farzana had already been married to her cousin and a lawsuit for dissolution of marriage filed by her was still pending in court.She alleged thatIqbalhad abducted Farzana and forcibly contracted a marriage with her which was not allowed in Islam and by the law of the land.

Khalida said that Farzana had fled from Iqbal`s house and taken refuge in Darul Aman in Pakpattan because she feared that she might be 1(illed by Iqbal who had earlier killed his first wife.

However, she had nothing to say when asl(ed why Farzana had filed the dissolution of marriage suit if she faced threats from Iqbal.

She said that members of her family had submitted an application against Iqbal and his accomplices to the Mozang police but to no avail.

AFP adds: A court on Saturday extended custody of the father of Farzana, police said, giving them more time to investigate the crime.

`The court has given a seven-day remand of Mohammad Azeem,` senior police official Omer Riaz Cheema said.

Farzana was going to the court to testify in Iqbal`s defence when she was killed, after he was accused by her relatives of 1(idnapping her and forcing her into marriage.