Six people in a small village in northeastern Pakistan have been sentenced to death after a cell phone video of them singing and dancing together surfaced, Agence France-Presse reports.
The six revelers, two men and four women, were recorded together at a wedding, in severe violation of tribal customs that forbid the commingling of sexes at weddings. The wedding took place in the Gada village of the Kohistan district, some 100 miles north of Islamabad.
After the death sentences were handed down, “it was decided that the men will be killed first, but they ran away so the women are safe for the moment,” according to Kohistan district police officer Abdul Majeed Afridi.
Afridi attributed the harsh penalty to a tribal dispute rather than an actual breach of policy. There is some confusion over whether or not the video actually depicts the men and women dancing and singing together; Afridi attests that the men and women were all shown separately in the video.
“I have sent a team to rescue them and am waiting to hear some news,” said Afridi.
AFP notes that 943 women were killed last year in Pakistan for defaming their family’s honor, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
According to another AFP report from later on Tuesday, the cleric who sentenced the six to death has been arrested. It is not clear if the death sentences still stand.