The father of Saman Abbas, an
18-year-old Pakistani-Italian woman who disappeared from
Novellara near Reggio Emilia on the night of April 30-May 1 last
year and is believed to have been killed by her family after
refusing an arranged marriage in Pakistan, has said she is
alive, according to sources at an extradition hearing in
Islamabad Thursday after his recent arrest in his home country,
where he and his wife, who is still a fugitive from justice,
fled after their daughter went missing.
The man, Shabbar Abbas, was granted seven days to examine
documents from Italian prosecutors who have requested his
extradition.
A Reggio Emilia court said Tuesday that it was "highly likely"
that human remains found at the weekend near the family home at
Novellara belonged to Saman Abbas.
Granting prosecutors' request to have the DNA of the remains
filed as evidence, the court of assizes said "the location of
the discovery and the careful burial lead us to deem as highly
likely that it may be the body of the young woman".
Abbas's uncle, who is believed to have strangled her, took
police to the spot near the family home where previous searches
had been fruitless because she had been buried over two metres
down.
The uncle, Danish Hasnain, accused of the murder with two of
Saman's cousins, her father Shabbar and mother Nazia, took
police to a site where the family is believed to have disposed
of the body.
Police teams and sniffer dogs had previously failed to find any
remains at the spot because they were covered by over two metres
of earth, police said.
Hasnain has been accused by Saman's brother of being the actual
killer, strangling the young woman after she refused to marry an
older man in Pakistan and thus 'dishonoured' the family, police
said.
The family also disapproved of Saman's western lifestyle and her
Italian boyfriend.
Her father was arrested in Pakistan last week and is awaiting
extradition while her mother is still on the run in the Asian
country.
A preliminary hearings judge (GUP) indicted the uncle, Hasnain,
and her two cousins, Ikram Ijaz and Nomanhulaq Nomanhulaq, who
were arrested in France and Spain respectively after fleeing
Italy.
Also indicted, in absentia at the time, were Saman's parents,
Shabbar Abbas and Nazia Shaheen.
The trial will start on February 10 next year.
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