Pakistani Family Gets Life for Honor Killing Teen Daughter in Italy

The Court of Cassation has rejected all appeals and upheld the convictions of Shabbar Abbas and Nazia Shaheen, Saman’s parents, along with her cousins Ijaz Ikram and Noman Ul Haq, according to Remix News. All four will serve life imprisonment. Her uncle, Danish Hasnain, received a 22-year sentence.

Saman was strangled to death on the night of April 30 to May 1, 2021, in Novellara, a town in the province of Reggio Emilia in northern Italy. She had refused a forced marriage to an older man in Pakistan, reported her own parents to authorities for abuse, and made clear her intention to choose her own romantic partner, clothing, and lifestyle—decisions that proved fatal.

Attorney General Marco Dall’Olio characterized the murder as premeditated and “chilling,” describing it as a calculated punishment for the young woman’s defiance. The killing was planned in detail, prosecutors argued, because Saman dared to assert her right to self-determination in direct conflict with her family’s strict cultural expectations.

The investigation was launched after Saman disappeared and her boyfriend at the time alerted authorities. Surveillance footage from the farm where the family was employed captured several individuals walking toward nearby fields carrying digging tools shortly before the teenager vanished.

Following the murder, Saman’s parents fled back to Pakistan, while other relatives attempted to escape through France and Spain. The suspects were eventually arrested at different times and extradited to Italy to face justice.

Saman’s body was discovered in November 2022 near an abandoned farmhouse after her uncle provided information to investigators. An autopsy confirmed she died from strangulation.

The initial trial in 2023 resulted in life sentences for her parents and a 14-year sentence for her uncle, while the two cousins were acquitted. Prosecutors appealed that partial acquittal, insisting all five family members had participated in the murder plot.

In April 2025, the Bologna Court of Appeal reversed the cousins’ acquittals and sentenced them to life imprisonment as well, while also increasing the uncle’s sentence to 22 years. Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling makes all sentences final and non-appealable.

Maria Teresa Manente, a lawyer representing the women’s rights organization Differenza Donna, emphasized that the killing was not a crime of passion but a deliberate act of punishment for Saman’s assertion of basic freedoms. She noted that the plan to kill the young woman was born the moment Saman claimed her right to choose whom to love, whether to pursue education, and how to dress and live.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni responded to the final verdict on Wednesday, stating that a painful judicial chapter has now closed. She noted that while no court decision can restore Saman’s life, it is right that those responsible for such a barbaric crime have been definitively convicted.

Meloni made clear that Italy will not tolerate those who deny a woman’s freedom, dignity, and life in the name of supposed cultural or religious justifications, calling these principles non-negotiable and stating that the country will never retreat from defending them.

The case has drawn widespread attention across Europe as a stark example of the clash between traditional honor-based violence and Western legal and cultural norms, particularly regarding women’s autonomy and freedom of choice.

With information from Remix News