LONDON: The father and stepmother of Sara Sharif, a 10-year-old girl who was found dead in her home in Britain, were on Tuesday jailed for 40 and 33 years respectively for her murder after a trial which heard harrowing details of Sara’s treatment.
Sharif was found dead in August 2023 at her home in Woking, a town southwest of London, after what prosecutors said was a campaign of “serious and repeated violence.”
The family fled to Pakistan immediately after Sara Sharif was killed, before they were arrested in September 2023 at London’s Gatwick airport after flying from Dubai.
Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones told jurors at the start of the trial that Sara had suffered injuries including burns, multiple broken bones and bite marks.
Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, 43, and his wife Beinash Batool, 30, stood trial at London’s Old Bailey court charged with her murder, which they denied.
Last week, the jury convicted Urfan Sharif and Batool of Sara’s murder. Sara’s uncle Faisal Malik, 29, was found not guilty of murder but guilty of causing or allowing Sara’s death.
Sharif and Batool appeared in the dock at the Old Bailey, where they heard a statement read on behalf of Sara’s mother Olga Domin who called them “executioners.”
“You are sadists, although even this word is not enough for you,” her statement read. “I would say you are executioners.”
Judge John Cavanagh sentenced Sharif to a minimum of 40 years in prison and Batool to a minimum of 33 years. Malik was sentenced to 16 years.
“The courts at the Old Bailey have been witness to many accounts of awful crimes, but few can have been more terrible than the account of the despicable treatment of this poor child that the jury in this case have had to endure,” Cavanagh said.
“It is no exaggeration to describe the campaign of abuse against Sara as torture.”
Father and stepmother jailed for 10-year-old Sara Sharif’s murder after UK trial
https://arab.news/chpct
Father and stepmother jailed for 10-year-old Sara Sharif’s murder after UK trial
- Sharif was found dead in August 2023 at her home in Woking after ‘serious and repeated violence’
- The family fled to Pakistan after Sharif was killed, before they were arrested last year in September
Islamabad facilitating thousands of stranded Pakistanis in Gulf amid Iran conflict, FM says
- Pakistani religious pilgrims, visitors are being evacuated via land routes due to airspace shutdowns
- Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar says ‘our consistent message is de-escalation, restraint and return to dialogue’
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday said that Islamabad was working round the clock to assist thousands of Pakistanis stranded in Arab Gulf countries, reiterating his country’s readiness to facilitate diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East.
Tensions in the region heightened on Saturday following coordinated strikes by the US and Israel against Iran, diminishing prospects of a peaceful settlement of Tehran’s long-running dispute with Western countries and Tel Aviv over its nuclear program.
Tehran subsequently targeted American bases in Gulf states, including the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan, prompting their governments to issue condemnations. The Saudi foreign ministry on Tuesday condemned Iran’s drone attack on the US embassy building in Riyadh.
Describing the Gulf situation as “very fluid,” Dar said regional airspace shutdowns had forced Pakistani religious pilgrims and visitors in Gulf states, also home to 4.5 million Pakistani expatriates, to mostly rely on land routes for their exit.
“The safety of Pakistanis abroad and the sovereignty of Pakistan remain our foremost priorities... Our crisis management unit is operational 24 hours to facilitate the stranded Pakistanis,” he said at a media briefing in Islamabad on Tuesday, adding that Pakistani missions in Tehran, Zahedan, Mashhad, Riyadh, Jeddah, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha, Kuwait City and Manama were actively assisting nationals.
“If someone’s visa is expiring, as a visitor, they’re are getting fully cooperated. Similarly, if people are transiting from Saudi Arabia to other countries by road, then the other Gulf countries are also facilitating and helping them.”
Around 35,000 Pakistanis were currently in Iran and evacuation through Azerbaijan remained another viable option for those in northern Iran. So far, 64 Pakistanis have crossed into Azerbaijan, with dozens already flown onward, including 42 who reached Lahore on March 2, according to Dar.
Flights between Pakistan and Azerbaijan remain operational and Baku is providing visa-on-arrival and logistical support to stranded Pakistani nationals.
Dar said 4,543 Pakistani visitors were stranded in the UAE and around 1,400 in Qatar due to the conflict and airspace disruptions, adding that Saudi Arabia, home to more than 2 million Pakistani expatriates, remained relatively stable, with partial air operations continuing via Oman.
Land corridors between Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Qatar were being widely used and travelers were being allowed to transit by road, he said, thanking authorities in these countries for facilitating Pakistani nationals.
ISLAMABAD’S DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS FOR PEACE
The foreign minister said he had been in contact with foreign ministers from Turkiye, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE and Oman as well as European Union representatives over the past three days to help de-escalate the tensions.
“Our consistent message is de-escalation, restraint and return to dialogue,” he said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is personally overseeing the situation and has convened Pakistani parliamentary leaders from all parties for a detailed briefing, he added.
In discussions involving US Secretary of State Marco Rubio prior to the US-Israeli strikes, Dar said, both Oman and Islamabad had been considered potential venues for US-Iran talks and Pakistan had conveyed that it was “fully ready” to host negotiations.
“Islamabad is available for any mediation or facilitation,” he said, adding that Pakistan’s policy did not support a regime change in Iran and focused solely on dialogue and regional stability.
