Italy: Saman Abbas Case: Human Remains Found in Novellara

We have been following the case of Saman Abbas, an 18-year-old Pakistani girl who was allegedly murdered by her family in Italy because she refused an arranged marriage. Her uncle and two cousins are in custody in Italy awaiting trial while her father has just been arrested by Pakistani police. The mother’s whereabouts are not known.

Today, it is reported that police in Italy have discovered human remains in the farm complex where Saman lived with her family. Identification is still pending.

The below article in today’s Il Giornale is translated by Fousesquawk.

 https://www.ilgiornale.it/news/cronaca-nera/saman-ris-novellara-trovati-resti-umani-2086796.html

Human remains found near Novellara: “Could be Saman”

19 November 2022

During a new inspection in Novellara, forensic investigators have found human remains, a short distance from the place in which Saman Abbas lived with her family.

During the new search of last night in Novellara, a municipality in the province of Reggio Emilia, forensic police (RIS) have discovered some human remains, a short distance from the place where Saman Abbas lived with her family. According to what has emerged as of now, the remains of a cadaver were reportedly found, and at this moment, investigations are underway on the part of the Carabinieri to determine if they are the (remains) of the 18-year-old. 

The arranged marriage

The young Pakistani girl, who had refused a marriage arranged by her parents in her country of origin, had disappeared on the night of April 30, 2021. Since then, she had not been heard from, and all searches resulted negative. The Prosecutor’s Office believes she was killed for having refused to join in marriage with a distant cousin 10 years older than her. Five relatives of Saman are under investigation for homicide. In the past few days, the father of the girl, Shabbar Abbas, was arrested in Pakistan. Identification has not yet been confirmed, and it will be necessary to conduct all the analyses and await the results of the autopsy. Only in the coming hours, or perhaps, in the coming days, will it be known with certainty if the turning point in the mystery has finally been reached and if the remains discovered are actually the body of the 18-year-old.

The new search and the discovery

The human remains discovered in Novellara were buried inside an abandoned shed, immersed in the fog, located a few hundred meters from the house in which the family of Saman lived. The Carabinieri from the investigative unit of the provincial command of Reggio Emilia, along with those from the Company of Guastalla, and coordinated by the prosecutor’s office led by Calogero Gaetano Paci, conducted a further search yesterday evening. The area has been closed off, and since the early morning hours, the Carabinieri, together with the forensic police (RIS) of Parma, are proceeding with the operation of recovering and finding the remains. The Fire Department of Reggio Emila has also arrived at the scene.

“It is premature to say anything, the activities are in progress: We will evaluate it after recovering the remains discovered. Obviously, we will proceed with all the necessary analyses, and it will take a few days,” the prosecutor of Reggio Emilia, Gaetano Paci, stated, responding to AG (Italian Journalistic Agency). The head of the Reggio-Emilia investigators is proceeding to the scene with the medical examiners.

The direction is compatible

In the meantime, however, the direction in which the crumbling farmhouse, where a cadaver was found, which could be precisely that of Saman, would be compatible, in respect to the house in which the young Pakistani lived, (and) with that (direction) in which the girl’s relative moved. The relatives of the 18-year-old, in fact, were captured by a surveillance camera on April 29, the day before the disappearance of the young girl. In the footage, three persons are seen, who were then identified by investigators as the uncle and two cousins investigated for the crime, walking with a crowbar and a shovel.  According to the investigators, the three men were going to dig the hole where they could then bury the girl’s body once having killed her. Neither detector dogs nor technical instruments succeeded in finding anything for over two months.

What the Carabinieri found

The Carabinieri found a cadaver inside a black sack about two feet deep. The place of discovery is located less than 500 meters from the house in which the family of Saman Abbas lived and were employed by a farm. The examinations by RIS are in progress and will continue in the coming hours, (and) the Carabinieri of Reggio-Emilia and the Fire Department are present. The ruined farmhouse in which the body was found is part of a complex of ruins near a group of houses where, up to a short time ago, there was a pig farm. In front, there is an uncultivated field, next to a stretch of woods and behind, there are some buildings, some occupied. Around the farmhouse, there are greenhouses, fields, and vineyards. According to what has emerged, it is reportedly a place already searched a few times in the past months. 

The news of the arrest of the father of the 18-year-old by the local (Pakistani) police was reported a few days ago in exclusive by the Channel 4 program, Quarto Grado (4th Grade). The man was reportedly arrested because he is accused of a 20,000 dollar fraud perpetrated against a co-national. From the first moment in which Saman disappeared, suspicions immediately were focused on her relatives, (who were) against her acquaintance with a young man of her age and nationality residing in the Frosinone area. About one month after the disappearance of the girl and precisely on June 8, 2021, the father confessed to the murder of the daughter during a telephone call with a relative who was in Italy. The parents, in fact, managed to escape to Pakistan. It was precisely that conversation contained in the files of the trial that will begin next February 10. Charged with the homicide of the young girl are the parents, the uncle, and two cousins.

The mother is still a fugitive

The parents are charged in the trial. The father, 64-year-old Shabbar Abbas, has been in jail in Pakistan for a few days. Last November 12, local authorities had issued an arrest warrant for both parents. Following a long evaluation, local authorities decided to activate the “red notice”, or an international arrest warrant already in the Interpol system, assigning the  Punjabi police, the region of origin for the Abbas family. The man was arrested last Wednesday and is accused of homicide and awaiting extradition. The mother of the girl, 47-year-old Nazia Shaeen, on the other hand, is still a fugitive, and according to what the man told Pakistani police, is reportedly in Europe. Behind bars, there are also three relatives of Saman who were arrested in the past months abroad, in France and Spain: The uncle, 34-year-old Danish Hasnain, considered the material perpetrator of the homicide, and two cousins, Ikram Ijaz and Nomanhulaq Nomanhulaq , the former 28, the latter 35.