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ROME: Pakistan has extradited to Italy one of its nationals on suspicion he murdered his daughter, who has been missing for two years, Italian authorities said Thursday.
The daughter, Saman Abbas, was 18 when she disappeared from her home in Novellara, near the northern city of Bologna, in May 2021 after refusing an arranged marriage to a Pakistan-based cousin — a case that sparked outrage in Italy.
She had sought out social services, who placed her in a shelter for young people in November 2020, after she had reported her situation to the police.
She disappeared after a family visit at the end of April 2021, and the following week police seeking her whereabouts found the family home empty with her parents having left for Pakistan.
CCTV images suggest she was likely killed on the night of April 30, with footage showing five people leaving the property carrying shovels, a crowbar and a bucket. They are seen returning two and a half hours later.
Italy asked Pakistan to extradite Abbas’s parents following news that her uncle had been arrested in Paris and accused of her murder along with her parents and two of her cousins.
The extradition of the father, arrested and held since last November in his homeland, “is an important step towards allowing justice to be done”, said Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. She welcomed the cooperation on the case between the two nations.
Italian investigators were on hand when the father was handed over at Islamabad airport for a flight to Rome, Italy’s Ansa news agency reported.
France has already extradited Abbas’s uncle and a cousin, while another cousin was arrested in connection with the case last year in Spain.
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