Terrassa mourns two sisters allegedly murdered by husbands in Pakistan
Minute's silence held for victims of 'honor' killings who wanted to divorce and remarry after forced marriages
A minute's silence was held outside Terrassa City Hall on Tuesday morning in memory of two of the city's residents killed in Pakistan.
Two sisters, Pakistani nationals, were allegedly tortured and murdered by their husbands and other family members in so-called 'honor' killings.
According to the La Vanguardia newspaper, they were forced to marry their cousins last year and were strangled and shot dead after announcing their intention to divorce, in order to remarry in Catalonia.
Six men involved in the killings have been arrested in Pakistan, while Catalan police, the Mossos d'Esquadra, are investigating relatives living in Terrassa.
The Catalan News Agency (ACN) understands that police have summoned relatives of the victims in order to try to find out if they knew about the plan to kill them in Pakistan.
In Terrassa, 30km northwest of Barcelona, mayor Jordi Ballart convened a 'femicide table', attended by the city's political representatives and police, as well as the Catalan equality and feminism minister, Tània Verge. Representatives from the Spanish foreign ministry, the Spanish government's delegation in Catalonia and the Spanish embassy in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad joined via video link.
At noon, a minute's silence was held outside the city council's headquarters.
The CCOO union also condemned the killings, saying the two women had died as a result of "one of the most invisible types of gender-based violence, forced marriage." They also held a minute's silence at noon, outside their offices in Barcelona.