Saman Abbas Case
Italy's Supreme Court Delivers the Final Word - Life Sentences Upheld for Family Members
July 15, 2026
After more than five years, one of the most painful criminal cases in recent Italian history has come to a definitive close. The First Criminal Section of Italy's Court of Cassation has rejected the appeals filed by the defendants convicted of the murder of Saman Abbas, the 18-year-old of Pakistani origin killed in Novellara, in the province of Reggio Emilia, on the night between April 30 and May 1, 2021.
With the Supreme Court's ruling, the sentences handed down in April 2025 by the Bologna Court of Assizes of Appeal are now final: life imprisonment for the young woman's parents, Shabbar Abbas and Nazia Shaheen, found to have ordered the killing, and life imprisonment also for her cousins Ijaz Ikram and Noman Ul Haq, held responsible for carrying out the murder and concealing the body. The 22-year prison sentence for her uncle, Danish Hasnain, was also upheld: he had initially received 14 years at trial, later increased on appeal after the courts recognized the aggravating circumstances of premeditation and abject motives, balanced against mitigating factors granted for his cooperation in locating the victim's remains.
A story that shook the country
Saman was killed for refusing an arranged marriage and for choosing a way of life her family deemed unacceptable. She disappeared into the night along a country road near the family home; her body was found only a year and a half later, on November 29, 2022, buried near a derelict farmhouse just a few dozen meters from the house.
The judicial path was anything but straightforward: the two cousins were acquitted at trial, only to be sentenced to life imprisonment on appeal, based on a reconstruction of events that the Court of Cassation has now fully confirmed. At the hearing held on June 17, the Prosecutor General's office had described the crime as a collective, carefully planned act rather than an impulsive one, stressing that the young woman had been denied the right to decide her own life, despite being a legal adult.
Reactions
The ruling was met with deep emotion in Novellara, where the community has never stopped remembering Saman and her interrupted dreams. Former mayor Elena Carletti spoke of a judicial chapter now closed, but of a wound that remains open. The lawyer who represented the victim's younger brother, Ali Haider, as a civil party recalled the burden the young man will carry for the rest of his life, even as he tries to move forward with the support of local institutions.
The Saman Abbas case remains a symbol in the fight against forced marriage and gender-based violence: a ruling that affirms, once and for all, that the right to life and self-determination comes before any tradition.
Sources: Il Post, Sky TG24, Il Sole 24 Ore