A 22-year-old man has been arrested in Pakistan and confessed to the murder of 17-year-old social media personality Sana Yousaf, according to authorities.
Authorities suspect Umar Hayat murdered Ms Yousaf at her home in Islamabad on Monday after she rejected his “offers of friendship”. He apparently tried and failed to meet her several times.
They claim he broke into her home, fired two rounds, snatched her phone, and left.
Ms Yousaf’s father, Syed Yousaf Hassan, told the BBC that she was his only daughter and that she was “very brave”. Her family has assembled in Chitral, where Ms Yousaf is buried.
Mr. Yousaf stated that she did not mention Hayat or engage in any threatening behaviour prior to her death.
He also claimed that the suspect broke into the family home and threatened to shoot her before fleeing.
Ms. Yousaf died before being taken to the hospital. The “brutal” murder sparked widespread concern and led to police raids across the country.
The suspected murder weapon and Ms. Yousaf’s phone have already been found.
Ms Yousaf already had a large following in Pakistan, with half a million Instagram followers before her death. Condolence messages have inundated her social media platforms.
Her TikTok account garnered hundreds of thousands of followers overnight and today has over a million.
Her last Instagram video, posted last week, showed her surrounded by balloons and cutting a cake for her birthday.
Given her high profile in Pakistan, news of her death spread quickly through local news media and social media platforms. It’s also ignited a fierce debate about women on social media.
While many people have expressed their outrage over Ms Yousaf’s death, there has also been criticism of her role as an influencer.
Bolo Bhi, a digital rights advocacy group, has been monitoring the online reaction, and its director, Usama Khilji, stated that such criticism has come from a small number of mostly male internet users, some of whom have cited religious grounds.
“They’re asking why she was putting up all this content and even suggesting the family should take down her Instagram and TikTok accounts because they add to her ‘sins’,” Mr Khilji explained.
Dr Farzana Bari, a well-known human rights activist, claimed that the reaction is “misogynistic” and “patriarchal”.
She stated that Ms Yousaf has “her own voice” and that the online discussion serves as a warning that social media has become a “very threatening place for female content creators” in Pakistan.
The Inspector General of Police for Islamabad, Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi, said women who chose to become social media influencers “deserve our encouragement and support”. He described Ms Yousaf’s murder as “tragic”.
Dr Bari stated that the government’s public condemnation of the occurrence was a positive sign that could lead to change.
The apprehended suspect is the son of a former governmental employee. He is from the town of Faisalabad, in the province of Punjab, according to authorities.
