Italy upholds sentences of Pakistani parents who murdered their teen daughter for refusing arranged marriage

An Italian court just dropped the hammer—two life sentences for a pair of parents who decided their 18-year-old daughter, Saman Abbas, had to pay the ultimate price for daring to say "no thanks" to an arranged marriage with her older cousin. I guess she didn't think having pointy-head kids was a good idea.

Honor killing, they call it. I call it medieval madness. International media’s all over this one, and it’s as ugly as month-old gas station sushi floating in a toilet.

Saman’s body turned up in 2022, buried like a dark secret in a farmhouse near her dad’s workplace, 18 months after she went missing. Cops figured out quick she didn’t just trip and fall into a shallow grave—her neck was broken, likely strangled, because apparently her family thought that was a reasonable response to her wanting her own life. 

Here’s the kicker: her parents, Nazia Shaheen and Shabbir Abbas, bolted from Milan to Pakistan days after she was killed, while she was still listed as missing. Real classy move, folks--you might imagine they knew what they did was wrong, at least according to Italian law.


The court didn’t stop at Mom and Dad. Saman’s uncle, Danish [aka Donut] Hasnain, and two cousins got slapped with sentences too. Hasnain’s penalty got a glow-up from 14 years to 22, because apparently the first number wasn’t spicy enough. Shabbir got dragged back from Pakistan to face the music, while Nazia played hide-and-seek near the Kashmir border for three years before getting nabbed. 

The uncle and cousins tried their luck fleeing to France and Spain, but surprise—cops there don’t mess around either. The whole clan’s swearing they’re innocent, with Shabbir whining to the court, “never in my life did I think of killing my daughter.” Sure, pal, you just did it with malice aforethought.

Now, let’s talk about Saman. 

She was a teenager who moved from Pakistan to northern Italy and—gasp—actually liked Western culture. No headscarf for her, per the Associated Press, and she had the audacity to smooch her boyfriend in public and post pics of it. 

Her parents, predictably, lost their minds. She told her boyfriend she was scared for her life because she wouldn’t marry some cousin back in Pakistan. Smart girl, bad situation. She even spent time under social services’ care, per BBC News, but went back home—probably hoping things would cool off. Spoiler: they didn’t.

This story’s a gut-punch, horrible reminder that some folks cling to traditions so hard they’ll bury their own kids to keep them to avoid "family shame."

Saman deserved better than a family playing judge, jury, and executioner. Here’s hoping the Italian courts’ ruling sends a loud message: you don’t get to snuff out a young woman’s life because she wanted to live it on her terms. 

Rest in peace, Saman.

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