Shabbar Abbas, the Pakistani man
accused of murdering his 18-year-old daughter Saman in Emilia
Romagna in 2021 with other family members after she refused an
arranged marriage, made his first appearance in court in Italy
on Friday after being extradited from Pakistan last week.
Abbas joined Saman's uncle Danish Hasnain, and her two cousins,
Ikram Ijaz and Nomanhulaq Nomanhulaq, in the courtroom in Reggio
Emilia where they are on trial in relation to the killing on the
night between April 30 and May 1, 2021, near the northern town
of Novellara.
Saman's mother Nazia Shaheen is the only defendant still at
large, and last week judicial authorities said they would
continue to press "in silence" for her arrest and extradition
from Pakistan.
Before the hearing activists gathered outside the court house
carrying a banner reading "Saman in our hearts and in our
battles" and distributing an open letter to judicial authorities
calling for them to receive specific training in gender-based
violence.
"There are too many cases where violence has not been recognised
in the courts," read the letter.
"We call for training courses in particular for all law
enforcement personnel, the judiciary and social services.
Training that is necessarily feminist and administered by
anti-violence centres," it continued.
Abbas was the first person to be extradited from Pakistan to
Italy in what Reggio Emilia prosecutor Gaetano Calogero Paci
described as "an example of the perfect functioning and
credibility of the Italian judicial and institutional system".
Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the
extradition was also "the fruit of great diplomatic work".
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