Participants gathered and prayed for Noor on Saturday in Sialkot.

Talking to Aaj Digital, one of the organisers of the memorial Barrister Asma Khawaja said, “The mural was defaced because of the prevailing perspective [as I understand] that why her picture is posted as she was a woman.”

She said the organizers reflected on why the poster was defaced and one reason, she thought, was because of the criticism they heard about women participants at the vigil had not covered their heads.

She said this was not true because around 80% of the women had their head covered at the vigil.

“The female participants who spoke on the occasion were also being censured because of their gender,” Khawaja said.

While the vigil received support from men online, the participants “faced hostility from the public, especially from passers-by,” she said.

Noor, 27, was beheaded on July 20 at a house in F-7 area of Islamabad, according to the police. The man accused of her murder, Zahir Jaffer, has been to prison on judicial remand till August 16.

Her brutal murder has spread outrage across the world as well as on social media.

People took to Twitter to condemn the defacing of Noor's mural.

People held vigils for her in London and Toronto to honour her memory and also to protest gender-based violence on women.