(Adnkronos) – Italy’s premier Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court of Cassation’s confirmation of the convictions of five family members of Saman Abbas, an 18-year-old Pakistani woman who was the victim of an ‘honour killing’ in the northern Emilia-Romagna region in 2021, calling the murder a “barbaric crime”.
“Saman, a young woman of Pakistani origin living in Italy, was killed by her parents and several other family members after she opposed a forced marriage and asserted her right to freely choose her own future,” Melonio wrote on X.
“No verdict can bring her back to life, but it is right that those responsible for this barbaric crime have been definitively convicted,” Meloni continued.
“In Italy, there is no place for those who seek to deny a woman’s freedom, dignity, and life in the name of putative cultural or religious justifications. These are non-negotiable principles from which we will never retreat,” Meloni added.
“My thoughts are with Saman. May she finally rest in peace,” Meloni concluded.
Saman Abbas was murdered in Novellara near Reggio Emilia in the spring of 2021 for refusing an arranged marriage and leading a Western lifestyle. Saman’s parents, Shabbar Abbas and Nazia Shaheen, fled to Pakistan after the murder but were extradited to Italy for trial.
The Supreme Court of Cassation’s upheld life sentences for Shabbar Abbas and Nazia Shaheen for their daughter’s murder and 22-year jail terms for her uncle, Danish Hasnain, and cousins Ijaz Ikram and Noman Ul Haq for their role in the killing.
Saman’s younger brother, Ali Heider, who was 16 at the time of her murder, testified against her killers.
