Pakistani teen in Italy killed by uncle for refusing arranged marriage

In a suspected case of honour killing, an 18-year-old Pakistani girl in Italy was strangled by her uncle after she refused an arranged marriage.

ANSA.it quoted a preliminary investigations judge (GIP) saying on said Monday that the girl, who had been missing from a town near Reggio Emilia since the end of April after refusing an arranged marriage in Pakistan was strangled by her uncle, who confessed to her younger brother.

A preliminary investigations judge said the testimony of the brother of the victim, Saman was "credible."

The boy stated that his uncle, Hasnain Danish, confessed about the murder to him but refused to say where her body was.

Saman had a violent argument with her family the night before she disappeared, according to an arrest warrant for the five suspect relatives. She allegedly shouted "give me my documents". Her father reportedly asked her "do you want to marry someone else" to which she replied "no, I want to go away".

Prosecutors said earlier this week that the five suspects were under investigation for premeditated murder and that Saman was not in Belgium as her father had said.

A young member of the family reportedly told police "I think he (the uncle) strangled her, also because when he came home he didn't have anything in his hands". Saman's uncle referred to a "job well done" to a friend in an Internet chat room, Italian police said at the weekend, saying he was probably referring to her murder and the disposal of her body.

ANSA.it further reported that Union of Italy's Islamic Communities (UCOII) on June 9 (Wednesday) issued a fatwah (ban) on arranged marriages after Saman's case.

UCOII issued the ban, along with one on infibulation, together with the Islamic Association of Imams and Religious Guides. The fatwah is against "conduct that cannot find any religious justification and are therefore absolutely to be condemned, and still more to be prevented".

UCOII said the case of Saman Abbas "has shocked and concerned us from the start".

Abbas went missing from her home in Novellara at the end of April. Police said they had CCTV footage of three people carrying two spades, a bucket with a blue bag, a crowbar and another tool heading for the fields behind the Abbas family house.

The suspected body-disposal party left the house at 19.15 on April 29 and came back at 9.50 on the same evening. .

( With inputs from ANI )