Saman Abbas was a young Pakistani woman living in Italy who was murdered in April of 2021, and is believed to have been honor-killed by her family. Saman’s father fled to Pakistan shortly after her death, and Italian prosecutors have been trying to extradite him for many months. The Pakistani government seems to be deliberately obstructing the process.

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

Saman Abbas: The obstructionism by Pakistan continues

Father’s hearing postponed

May 10, 2023

The Tribunal of Islamabad has postponed the hearing on the extradition of Shabbar Abbas for the 20th time. The father of Saman Abbas, along with four other relatives accused of the murder of his daughter, will remain in Pakistan for the time being.

A new postponement of the hearing, the 20th one, which risks further lengthening the process necessary for the extradition of one of the alleged perpetrators of the murder of Saman Abbas. For the moment, Shabbar Abbas, the father of the girl, therefore remains in Pakistan. These are the latest developments connected to the story of the young Pakistani girl who disappeared in Novellara (in Emilia Romagna) in the province of Reggio Emilia in 2021, whose body was recovered at the end of last year buried in a field. The parent has been charged in Italy along with four other relatives of Saman (the mother, the uncle, and two cousins), accused of homicide, destruction of a cadaver, and kidnapping, but after leaving Emilia and returning to his home country, is still awaiting extradition. Except the hearing has been postponed 20 times, reinforcing the argument of those who already judged the attitude shown by the Pakistani authorities as rather obstructionist.

Ex-prime minister of Pakistan going to trial

Shabbar was supposed to appear in court yesterday but apparently did not reach the tribunal of Islamabad. The reason apparently, is the beginning of the concurrent trial for corruption and misappropriation of state funds against former prime minister Imran Khan. A proceeding of such importance that the court building was made unreachable, pushing back almost all the other proceedings. That’s why the hearing for Saman’s father has been moved back to next Tuesday barring further postponements. According to what is reported by the daily, Il Resto del Carlino, his participation in a video conference hearing the day after tomorrow in the ongoing trial at the tribunal of Reggio Emilia is not assured. The investigators, as noted, theorize that the young girl was killed because she opposed a forced marriage with a cousin who was ten years older.

The trap set for Saman

The video surveillance camera captured Saman Abbas returning home on April 20, 2021: She had returned to retrieve the documents she would need to marry her fiancé, Saqib Ayub. Subsequently, on April 22, the video camera recorded the Carabinieri arriving at the Abbas home and taking the young girl to the caserne: It was at that moment that she filed the last complaint against her parents because they allegedly took the documents from her. The girl also told the Carabinieri that the father allegedly told her to claim she lost them. Finally, the results of the autopsy have been released: On Saman’s body, a fracture of the horn of the hyoid (neck bone) was found, making it possible to establish that the girl was strangled, apparently by bare hands. The investigators believe that the relatives set a trap for her, inducing her to return. And there should be more developments soon.

Previous posts about the honor killing of Saman Abbas: