ISLAMABAD: Pakistani police working closely with Interpol have raided a home in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir and arrested a Pakistani woman convicted in Italy of killing her daughter, officials said Friday.
Nazia Shaheen was arrested in a village in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Thursday and was presented before a judge in Islamabad on Friday, officials at the Federal Investigation Agency and the police said.
Islamabad police confirmed the arrest, and other Pakistani officials said that Interpol helped police in tracing the woman.
Officials say Pakistan’s government will soon start the process to extradite her to Italy, where a court last year convicted Shaheen, her husband and an uncle of murdering Saman Abbas, an 18-year-Pakistani woman.
The woman was killed after she refused her family’s demands to marry a cousin in their homeland.
Arranged marriages are the norm among many conservative Pakistanis, and hundreds of women are killed every year in so-called honor killings carried out by husbands or relatives as a punishment for alleged adultery or other illicit sexual behavior.
Abbas’ body was dug up in November 2022 in an abandoned farmhouse near the fields where her father worked in northern Italy — a year and a half after she was last seen alive on surveillance video walking near the same fields with her parents. Italian police had said she was was killed by her family on May 1, 2021.
Her parents flew from Milan to Pakistan after the murder.
Since then, Pakistani police had been trying to trace Shaheen, whose husband Shabbar Abbas was arrested in Pakistan in 2022. He was later extradited to Italy, where a court convicted and sentenced him to life in prison in 2023.
Shaheen was tried in absentia and sentenced to life in prison.
Abbas’ uncle, Danish Hasnain, was handed a 14-year prison term by a court in Reggio Emilia.
Italy has already concluded that Abbas’ two cousins weren’t guilty of killing her and the were released from jail. The slain woman’s father, who was extradited from Pakistan in August, professed his innocence during a tearful statement to the court before deliberations.
The trial was the most high-profile of several criminal investigations in Italy in recent years dealing with the slaying or mistreatment of immigrant women or girls who rebelled against family insistence that they marry someone chosen for them.
After the murder of Abbas, an autopsy revealed that the young woman had a broken neck bone, possibly caused by strangulation. She had emigrated as a teenager from Pakistan to a farm town, Novellara, in Italy’s northern region of Emilia-Romagna.
Authorities in Italy have said she quickly embraced Western ways, including shedding her headscarf and dating a young man of her choice. In one social media post, she and her Pakistani boyfriend were shown kissing on a street in the regional capital, Bologna.
According to Italian investigators, that kiss enraged Abbas’ parents, who wanted her to marry a cousin in Pakistan. Abbas had reportedly told her boyfriend that she feared for her life, because of her refusal to marry an older man in her homeland.
Pakistan arrests woman convicted of daughter’s murder in Italy, police say
https://arab.news/98723
Pakistan arrests woman convicted of daughter’s murder in Italy, police say
- Nazia Shaheen was arrested in a village in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and was presented before a judge in Islamabad on Friday
- Shaheen, her husband and an uncle were convicted of murdering Saman Abbas, a Pakistani woman who refused to marry her cousin
Pakistan joins 22 Muslim states, OIC to condemn Israeli FM’s visit to Somaliland
- Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar visited breakaway African region of Somaliland on January 6
- Muslim states urge Israel to withdraw Somaliland recognition, respect Somalia’s sovereignty
ISLAMABAD: A joint statement by Pakistan, 22 other Muslim states and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Thursday condemned Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar’s recent visit to Somaliland as a violation of the African nation’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Saar’s visit to Somaliland capital Hargeisa on Jan. 6 followed Israel’s move last month to recognize Somaliland, a breakaway region from Somalia, as an independent country. The move drew a sharp reaction from Muslim states, including Pakistan, who said it was in contravention of the UN Charter and international norms.
Several international news outlets months earlier reported that Israel had contacted Somaliland over the potential resettlement of Palestinians forcibly removed from Gaza. Muslim countries fear Israel’s recognition of the breakaway region could be part of its plan to forcibly relocate Palestinians from Gaza to the region.
“The said visit constitutes a clear violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Somalia, and undermines established international norms and the United Nations Charter,” the joint statement shared by Pakistan’s foreign office, read.
The joint statement was issued on behalf of 23 Muslim states, including Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Jordan, Kuwait, Türkiye, Oman and others.
It reaffirmed support for Somalia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, pointing out that respect for international law and non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states was necessary for regional stability.
“Encouraging secessionist agendas are unacceptable and risk exacerbating tensions in an already fragile region,” the statement said.
The joint statement urged Israel to revoke its recognition of the breakaway region.
“Israel should fully respect Somalia’s sovereignty, national unity and territorial integrity and honor its obligations in compliance with international law, and demand immediate revocation of the recognition issued by Israel,” the statement read.
Somaliland broke away from Somalia unilaterally in 1991 as a civil war raged in the country. Somaliland has its own constitution, parliament and currency, a move that has infuriated Somalia over the years as it insists the region is part of its territory.
