Saman Abbas, an 18-year-old
Pakistani-Italian woman who is missing and believed to have been
killed at the end of April last year by her family for refusing
an arranged marriage with her cousin in Pakistan, sent her
Italian boyfriend the names and phone numbers of those she
thought might harm her, including all the relatives now
indicted for her murder, on February 4, 2021, three months
before she disappeared from her home at Novellara near Reggio
Emilia, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Among those cited by the young woman are the five relatives sent
to trial for her murder: parents Shabbar Abbas and Nazia Shaheen
(hiding out in Pakistan); and uncle Danish Hasnain and cousins
Ikram Ijaz and Nomanhulaq Nomanhulaq, arrested over the last few
months after fleeing to France and Spain.
They are set to go on trial in Bologna on February 10.
As well as them, Saman also indicated her younger brother, who
has since testified against her uncle, another cousin and
another uncle, all three of whom are not being probed.
Saman's father has been caught on an intercept saying he killed
his daughter, prosecutors said last week.
Abbas Sr was heard saying in a phone conversation with a
relative in Italy on June 8 2021: "I killed my daughter".
He allegedly said in the phone tap: "For me the dignity
of others is not more important than mine...I left a son in
Italy (a younger son now in a shelter who has accused his uncle
in the case). I killed my daughter and I left, I don't care
about anyone else at all".
One of the factors that sparked the family's ire against Saman
was a photo of a kiss between her and her Italian boyfriend
posted on social media between the end of 2020 and the beginning
of 2021, Reggio Emilia prosecutors said Friday.
The young couple snapped each other kissing in a Bologna street.
It was during a period when the young woman was living in a
protected community having fled her family, before she was lured
back with the false promise that she could live as she wanted.
A cousin, who has been questioned by Reggio Emilia Carabinieri,
reported that he had received the image of the kiss and that
Saman's father Shabbar and her mother Nazia "complained about
the situation in continuation", judicial sources said.
All the relatives probed in Saman's disappearance were indicted
for her suspected 'honour killing' on May 17 this year, legal
sources said.
Saman's younger brother has told prosecutors her uncle strangled
her and the others helped him dispose of her body, which has yet
to be found despite intensive searches.
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