Justice for Saman Redux
18th July 2026
It has been well over a year since I last reported on the murder of Saman Abbas in Italy. For readers who are unfamiliar with what happened, here is a précis of the case:
In the spring of 2021 a young Pakistani woman named Saman Abbas disappeared from the Italian town of Novellara. The local authorities eventually concluded that she had been “honor-killed” by her parents and male relatives for refusing to be married to her cousin and for daring to want to live like a normal teenage girl. 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. Eventually her mother was also extradited to Italy.
As of my most recent reports, the two cousins had been acquitted when the parents were acquitted. However, in the interim the prosecution has appealed the acquittals, and the cousins were eventually convicted and sentenced to life.
After an appeal to the Court of Cassation, the court upheld the convictions. I’m not certain whether this is the end of all appeals, or whether there might possibly be more.
Watch the video.