Final ruling confirms convictions of parents in the murder of Pakistani teenager who refused a forced marriage.
On Wednesday, the Italian Supreme Court rejected the appeal filed by the lawyers for the killers of Pakistani teenager Saman Abbas, who died at age 18 after refusing a forced marriage to a relative in Pakistan.
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The ruling made final the life sentences imposed on her parents and two cousins, as well as the 22-year prison sentence handed to one of her uncles for his role in the crime.
In the spring of 2021, Saman Abbas was murdered in Novellara, in the Reggio Emilia region, in a killing planned by her entire family because she opposed an arranged marriage and had adopted a lifestyle considered incompatible with the family’s traditions.
During the trial, none of the defendants confessed to the crime, and they blamed one another. However, the appeals court found the entire family responsible for the murder.
The teenager was killed during the night between April 30 and May 1, 2021, and her body was found buried in a field near the town a year and a half after her disappearance.
The Supreme imposed a harsher sentence than the trial court, which had sentenced her parents, Shabbar Abbas and Nazia Shaheen, to life imprisonment, while her uncle, Danish Hasnain was sentenced to 14 years in prison, and her cousins, Noman Hulhaq and Ikram Ijaz, were acquitted.
In un video l’ultima immagine di Saman Abbas con i genitori prima della scomparsa, un anno fa. Per la Procura è il momento in cui fu consegnata allo zio e ai cugini, ora in carcere con l’accusa di omicidio pic.twitter.com/ocnnkTMbGi
— Tg3 (@Tg3web) April 27, 2022
The text reads, “A video captures the last image of Saman Abbas with her parents before her disappearance a year ago. Prosecutors believe it marks the moment she was handed over to her uncle and cousins, who are now in prison charged with murder.”
The Appeals Court found credible the testimony of Saman’s 16-year-old brother, which had failed to convince the trial court judges. He described some details of those days. When the prosecutor asked who had dug the grave, the boy replied that it had been dug by “Uncle Danish and cousins Ikram and Noman Hulhaq.”
Saman had reported her family for abuse and was living under the protection of social services. Her family abused her because she refused to accept the rules and traditions of her origins.
Her uncle and two cousins were arrested in France and Spain after fleeing Italy shortly after the crime. Shortly before the discovery of the body, her father, Shabbar Abbas, was arrested in Pakistan, and the last suspect to be arrested was her mother, in May 2024.
Both were extradited under landmark decisions, as the Asian country had never before surrendered its own citizens accused by the Italian judicial authorities.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
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