A Mother’s Role in an Honor Killing

Below is the latest news in the case of Saman Abbas, a young Pakistani woman in Italy who disappeared in the spring of 2021 and is believed to have been “honor-killed” by her relatives.

Many thanks to Gary Fouse for translating this article from Il Giornale:

“Your father and I died”

The wiretap of Saman’s mother

The 18-year-old’s mother, Nazia Shaheen, was wiretapped after the alleged crime. The telephone call with the younger brother of the girl. “Your father and I…”

by Rosa Scognamiglio
September 25, 2022

“Your father and I died on the spot.” These are the words spoken by Nazia Shaheen, the mother of Saman Abbas, in the course of a phone call with her younger son and brother of the 18-year-old Pakistani who disappeared from Novellara the night of April 30 a year ago. The wire interception, in the files of the case for homicide and illegal disposal of a body, goes back to the end of August 2021. The mother was likely already back in Pakistan with her husband Shabbar.

The call

The details of the conversation between Nazia Shaheen and the younger brother of Saman (the boy is currently housed at a protected structure in the Bologna area) are not yet known. This is certainly not an insignificant element. It is the latest in this tangled family affair which, for the moment, involves five persons: The two cousins of the girl, the uncle, and the parents. They are all under investigation, even if the Abbas spouses, for whom there is an international arrest warrant, remain free. The fact is that this call, as well as that from Shabbar to his step-brother, is the umpteenth piece of the puzzle that the investigators are attempting to reconstruct. The hypothesis of honor crime, already confirmed in part from the statements of Saman’s father — “I killed her for my dignity,” were the man’s words — now takes on even more body and shape with the cryptic phrase spoken by Nazia: “We died there.”

The homicide told by Ijaz

It was reportedly Ikram Ijaz, one of the two arrested cousins, who furnished the relevant details of the dynamic of the alleged homicide. According to what he reportedly told a detainee, who then passed on the contents of the alleged confession to prison authorities, Saman was allegedly strangled with a rope, cut into pieces, and finally thrown into the Po River by “a man with a balaclava”. The crime was reportedly carried out in the countryside of Novellara, probably in the greenhouses of the agricultural business where the Abbas clan worked. Nazia, who allegedly accompanied the daughter in her final steps before handing her over to her uncle Danish, reportedly broke out in tears. At that point, Shabbar reportedly asked her to return home, giving the task of finishing the operation by disposing of the cadaver to an unknown person.

Previous posts about the honor killing of Saman Abbas:

2021   Jun   5   Honor Killing in Novellara
        14   The Honor Killing of Saman Abbas
        17   “She Must Die”
    Sep   30   Another Arrest in the Saman Abbas Case
    Dec   31   A Bone Fragment From Saman Abbas?
2022   Feb   14   Another Cousin of Saman Abbas Arrested
    Mar   26   Saman Abbas’ Cousin Clams Up
    Apr   5   Has Saman Abbas’ Skull Been Found?
 

2 thoughts on “A Mother’s Role in an Honor Killing

  1. This vile sub human culture needs to be dealt with the good ole fashioned way, a Crusades with a Saint Vlad ” Lord Impaler” Tepes flavor. No more muslims = no more problems. Deo Volente!

  2. This reminds me of the honor killing of Sarah and Amina Said in Lewisville, TX. The girls were attending Lewisville High School and the father found out that the girls were dating (God forbid) American boys. There were words and the girls knew that their lives were on the line, so they ran away to an aunt’s house. Their mother and brother named Islam cajoled them enough to come back home. When they finally came home, their father drove them to Irving, TX. in a cab and shot them both, mortally. One of the sisters called 911 and told the operator that their father had shot them.

    It took authorities a few years to catch up with Mr. Said, but they got him, and he will be, or has been, charged with murder. The mother and son (Islam) should be charged as accomplices, and I do not know why they have not been so charged. Honor killings are a family affair within Islam but even if this were not so, I think American law has provisions for prosecuting those who help a person murder another person.

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