The uncle of an 18-year-old Pakistani
girl who has been missing from a town near Reggio Emilia since
the end of April after refusing an arranged marriage in Pakistan
referred to a "job well done" to a friend in an Internet chat
room, Italian police said at the weekend, saying he was probably
referring to her murder and the disposal of her body.
Danish Hasnain, 33, uncle of Saman Abbas, reportedly wrote "we
did the job well", according to the Gazzetta di Reggio Emilia
newspaper.
Abbas also reportedly overheard her family saying that murder
was "the only solution" for women who idd not obey the Pakistani
Muslim way of life, and suspected "they are talking about me", t
he paper said.
Abbas told her boyfriend about this family conversation, police
said.
Saman's parents, her uncle Danish and two cousins have been
placed under investigation for homicide and disposing of a body.
They are all on the run except for a cousin, Ikram Ijaz,
arrested last week in the French city of Nimes.
The parents flew to Pakistan at the beginning of May, and the
uncle and the other cousin are believed to be somewhere in
Europe.
The Union of Italy's Islamic Communities (UCOII) on Wednesday
issued a fatwah (ban) on arranged marriages after Saman's case.
UCOII issued the ban, along with one on infibulation, together
with the Islamic Association of Imams and Religious Guides. The
fatwah is against "conduct that cannot find any religious
justification and are therefore absolutely to be condemned, and
still more to be prevented".
UCOII said the case of Saman Abbas "has shocked and concerned us
from the start".
Abbas went missing from her home in Novellara at the end of
April.
Police said they had CCTV footage of three people carrying two
spades, a bucket with a blue bag, a crowbar and another tool
heading for the fields behind the Abbas family house.
The suspected body-disposal party left the house at 19:15 on
April 29 and came back at 21:50 on the same evening.
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