Pela Atroshi was murdered on 24 June 1999 when she was shot and killed by her relatives in Dohuk in Iraqi Kurdistan. In 1994, Atroshi moved to Sweden from Kurdistan with her family. The family settled in Farsta where she and her younger sister attended school and she challenged her family's control over her trying to make her own decisions whom to meet, how to dress and whom to marry. In the spring of 1999 the quarrels between Atroshi and her father escalated and he banned his daughters from attending parties or going on school trips. Atroshi moved out of the family home and according to her sister, her paternal uncles Dakhaz and Rezkar Atroshi visited the family and they discussed with her father how the family should handle the situation. Atroshi came back to the family home and in June 1999 the family traveled to Iraqi Kurdistan together with her paternal uncles. Violent quarrels follow where Atroshi is accused of not living according to Kurdish values. On 24 June 1999 the quarrels culminated with 19 year old Pela Atroshi being shot and killed. The then Minister for Foreign Affairs, Anna Lindh, took an interest in the case and silent diplomacy enabled Police in Sweden to bring sister Breen Atroshi to Sweden. The murder case lead to the first trial of an honor killing in Sweden. The uncles were sentenced to life in prison by Svea Court of Appeal in June 2001 after Pela's sister Breen Atroshi witnessed for the prosecution with lawyer Elisabeth Massi Fritz as counsel for the witness. The court found that the father and the uncles had planned and carried out the murder together. The sister and mother received secret identities as other relatives threatened them with violence for having witnessed against the uncles. Atroshi's father stayed in Kurdistan where he confessed to the murder in interviews but he escaped jail, as according to the local laws, he was protecting the family honor. The sentences of uncles Rezkar and Dakhaz were commuted to limited durations of 24 and 25 years in prison but in practice were released after having served two thirds of the time in 2016. The sister and mother still lived with protected identities as the uncles were at large.
