Saman Abbas' mother arrested in Pakistan

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 31 - The mother of Saman Abbas, an 18-year-old Italian-Pakistani woman killed by her family at Novellara near Reggio Emilia on the night between 30 April and 1 May 2021, has been arrested in Pakistan, sources said on Friday.
    Nazia Shaheen, 51, was given a life sentence by a court in Reggio Emilia in December after being found guilty in absentia of her daughter's homicide, along with her husband, Shabbar Abbas.
    She was a fugitive, having fled Italy after the murder, and an international arrest warrant was out for her.
    The father had also left the country but was extradited to Italy from Pakistan and is behind bars here.
    The sources said Shaheen was tracked down in a village on the border of Kashmir thanks to cooperation between Interpol and the Pakistan Federal Police. They said she has been transferred to Islamabad, where she appeared in court on Friday, for the extradition procedures.
    In their explanation of the sentence, the Italian judges said Shaheen may have been the person who actually carried out the murder.
    The judges also said they had ruled out the motivation of the murder being Saman's alleged refusal of an arranged marriage with an older man in Pakistan, saying the killing had been "spur of the moment" and in apparent anger at the young woman wanting to leave home and go to live with her boyfriend in a Western-style arrangement.
    Saman's uncle, Danish Hasnain, was given a jail term of 14 years for his involvement in the homicide, while two of her cousins were acquitted.
    Her body was found at a farmhouse near where the family lived in November 2022, 18 months following her disappearance, after the uncle had revealed where she had been buried. (ANSA).