ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Pakistani Parents Jailed in Italy for Honour Killing of Daughter
A Pakistani couple were jailed for life in Italy for the ‘honour killing’ of their daughter after she refused their demands to marry a cousin.
In November 2022, the body of 18-year-old Saman Abbas was dug up in November 2022 in an abandoned farmhouse near the fields where her father worked in northern Italy.
The discovery came over a year after she was last seen alive.
Saman was spotted on CCTV walking near the same fields with her parents.
The tribunal in Reggio Emilia concluded that her parents ordered the murder while an uncle strangled Saman.
Italian prosecutors argued that Saman was murdered on a night between April 30 and May 1, 2021.
CCTV footage showed her uncle and two cousins carrying shovels towards a field, presumably to dig a grave for the teenager.
A few days later, her parents travelled from Milan to Pakistan.
Her parents, Shabbar Abbas and Nazia Shaheen, received life sentences.
The uncle, Danish Hasnain, was jailed for 14 years after accepting a plea bargain.
The two cousins were found not guilty and were released.
Shabbar Abbas was extradited from Pakistan in August 2023 and claimed to be innocent during a statement to the court.
Shaheen was sentenced in her absence and is believed to still be in Pakistan.
The trial is the most high-profile of several criminal investigations in Italy in recent years dealing with the killing or mistreatment of immigrant females who rebelled against family wishes to marry someone of their choice.
According to an autopsy, Saman suffered a broken neckbone, possibly caused by strangulation.
Saman had moved from Pakistan to the northern farm town of Novellara.
She soon embraced Western ways, including getting rid of her headscarf, getting piercings, wearing eyeliner and dating a man of her choice.
One social media post showed her and her Pakistani boyfriend kissing on a street in Bologna.
Italian investigators said that kiss angered Saman’s parents.
Reportedly, Saman told her boyfriend that she feared for her life because she refused to marry her older cousin in Pakistan.
In November 2020, Saman told the police about her parents and social workers placed her in a shelter.
But in April 2021, she visited her family, planning to pick up her passport and start a new life with her boyfriend.
She then disappeared, prompting her boyfriend to alert the police.
Police raided the family home but the parents had already left for Pakistan.
Her brother told police that he had overheard his father discussing the murder and it was his uncle who had killed Saman.
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