"Refusing Arranged Marriage Daughter... Italian Court Sentences Pakistani Parents to Life Imprisonment"

Father Claims Innocence "Unrelated to Daughter's Death"
Life Sentence Imposed... Shocks Italian Society
Human Rights Groups "Honor Killings of 1,000 Women Annually"

A Pakistani couple standing trial in Italy has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering their daughter who refused an arranged marriage.

On the 20th (local time), foreign media including the Associated Press reported that the court in Reggio Emilia, northern Italy, sentenced the Pakistani couple, Shabar Abbas and Najia Shahin, who had been living in Italy, to life imprisonment on the 19th.

The farmhouse in Novellara where the body of the girl was found 19 months after her disappearance. Flowers, dolls, and other memorial items are placed in front.
[Photo by AP·Yonhap News]

The Pakistani couple is accused of killing their 18-year-old daughter Saman because she refused an arranged marriage. This case shocked the world when Saman's body, missing for over a year, was discovered in November 2022 in the basement of a farmhouse in northern Italy.

According to police investigations, Saman was murdered by her parents and uncle in April 2021 in Novellara, northern Italy, after she refused to travel to Pakistan for an arranged marriage.

Afterward, they fled to their home country, Pakistan, to evade investigation. The case gained momentum again when Abbas was arrested by local police in November last year. Following Italy's request for extradition, the Pakistani government sent Abbas back to Italy in September, leading to the current trial.

According to reports, both parents were convicted of their daughter's murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, while the uncle who assisted in the murder received a 14-year prison sentence. However, Shahin, the mother, remains in hiding in Pakistan, and her whereabouts are unknown.

Abbas maintains his innocence regarding the murder of his daughter. He argued, "This trial is not over yet," and added, "I also want to know who killed my daughter."

The Italian prosecution stated that the motive behind the couple's crime is presumed to be an 'honor killing.' The prosecution particularly noted that the family became more enraged after discovering that Saman had a boyfriend in Italy.

'Honor Killings' Still Occur Despite Stricter Punishments

In South Asian Islamic regions such as Pakistan, so-called honor killings frequently occur, where family members kill a relative on the grounds of tarnishing the family's honor, based on decisions made by village elder councils.
[Photo by Pixabay]

Honor killing refers to the murder of a woman by her family for allegedly tarnishing the family's honor.

In South Asian Islamic regions such as Pakistan, honor killings frequently occur when village elders or councils decide that a family member has brought dishonor to the family, leading other family members to kill the accused individual.

Pakistan, in particular, had the highest number of honor killings per capita as of 2018. According to the Pakistan Human Rights Commission (HRCP), approximately 1,000 women fall victim to honor killings annually in Pakistan.

In response to international criticism over honor killings, the Pakistani government passed a law in 2016 strengthening punishments to a minimum of 25 years imprisonment to prevent honor killings. Additionally, some Islamic legal provisions allowing the victim's family to forgive the perpetrator have been partially removed to combat honor killings, but the practice has not been eradicated.

On the 28th of last month, a teenage girl in Pakistan was killed by her biological father after a video of her dancing with boys was shared on social media.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.