Saman’s Mother in Court
1st March 2025
In the spring of 2021 a young Pakistani woman named Saman Abbas disappeared from the Italian town of Novellara in Italy. The assumption was that she had been “honor-killed” by her parents and male relatives. It wasn’t until months later that her body was found.
Saman’s father and mother fled to Pakistan. Her uncle and two cousins were arrested in various European countries. At first her uncle Danish was identified as the likely killer, but he fingered her mother as the perpetrator.
Saman’s parents were tried and convicted — the mother in absentia, since she was still in Pakistan, although the father had been extradited — and sentenced to life in prison.
Saman’s mother was extradited to Italy last summer. The article below concerns her recent appearance in court for an appeal proceeding.