Reggio Emilia, July 15, 2026 – All confirmed: four life sentences (the mother Nazia Shaheen, the father Shabbar Abbas, and the two cousins, Noman Ul Haq and Ijaz Ikram) and 22 years to the uncle, Danish Hasnain, are the sentences issued in mid-April last year on appeal.
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The General Prosecutor’s Office of the Court of Cassation, with Attorney General Marco Dall’Olio, requested confirmation of the sentences for all defendants, emphasizing that they were facing “not a crime of impulse but a premeditated action. It is clear and evident that Saman could not decide on her own, the reconstruction of the facts is unequivocal. A chilling story, a collective and premeditated act,” Dall’Olio recalled yesterday during the closing arguments. The murder of Saman “although having its own cultural roots, betrays the use of extreme and disproportionate violence, chosen as the only means to ‘correct an alleged fault’ (the girl’s desire for freedom), which reveals the vile and ignoble nature of the motive,” reads the written brief, also signed by Dall’Olio, filed ahead of the hearing.
On the other hand, all five appeals are linked by key points: primarily the challenge to the aggravating factor of premeditation, which had been excluded at first instance, as well as the reassessment of Alì Haider’s statements. Considered unreliable at first instance, his testimony instead laid the strongest foundation for the appeal verdict. The parents are accused of murder and corpse concealment, as are the cousins, for whom the appeal court recognized the aggravating factors of premeditation and base motives. The same aggravating factors were recognized for the uncle, considered equivalent to the general mitigating circumstances already granted for the cooperation provided in locating the body. Having chosen the abbreviated trial with an associated sentence reduction, his position at first instance had been eased, but the appeal verdict increased the sentence by eight years. This was one of the focal points of the appeal filed by his lawyer: the constitutional legitimacy issue regarding the initially chosen trial and the benefits later denied.
The lawyer of brother Alì: “The final word has been said”
“The word ‘end’ has been put. A woman is free to believe in her life. Saman’s brother, Alì Haider, has always said he wanted to seek justice for his sister and he succeeded. For me, it is a revolutionary thing that scares. This sentence is a victory for the brother and for all women. His words came out of the court and spoke to mothers and fathers, brothers, husbands, and boyfriends. They are a revolution,” said Valeria Miari, lawyer substituting Angelo Russo for Saman’s brother Alì Haider and the Union of Municipalities of the Bassa Reggiana. Substituting lawyer Termanini for the Municipality of Novellara.
And again: “Ali Haider’s life will be forever destroyed, he will never fully recover. He still tries to move forward. He is supported by a network of institutions”.
Uncle Danish’s lawyer: “Significant sentence for its historical importance”
Defense lawyer Liborio Cataliotti: “The issue is that the cultural motive cannot lead to sentence reductions or non-application of aggravating factors. This is the historical essence of this trial. The cultural motive makes the regulation of this aggravating factor different between Italians and foreigners.” And about uncle Danish: “Cooperation pays off. Although considered the material author of the crime, he is the only one who does not receive a life sentence, so it means that the other principle established by the Cassation Court is that cooperation, even if not full in this case, pays off”.
The Municipality of Novellara
“We welcome the news that the Cassation Court has confirmed the sentences issued in the previous level of judgment at the Court of Assizes of Appeal in Bologna. It is an important signal that highlights a fundamental point, also from a social and cultural perspective, namely that these crimes are not only unacceptable in a democratic and civil context, but that the law punishes them even more harshly when aggravating factors caused by cultural motivations intervene. The fact that the Municipality of Novellara has always joined as a civil party is not a minor detail, but the testimony of a territory that cannot accept such behaviors,” declares the mayor of the Municipality of Novellara, Simone Zarantonello.
The Municipality of Novellara, which joined as a civil party with lawyer Nicola Termanini and actively participated in all hearings held, from first instance to the Court of Cassation, providing an important contribution to the prosecution’s case.
The Community of Novellara was deeply affected by this event but has been able to react and draw serious lessons, aimed at bringing to the territory a thorough work focused on integration and building a network to support those living in situations of abuse and family suffering.
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Former mayor Carletti: “Justice confirmed the painful truth of premeditation”
“Today’s decision writes a definitive page on the judicial front, confirming the absolute gravity of a crime that shocked our consciences,” comments Elena Carletti, regional councilor and former mayor of Novellara. In her role, Elena Carletti led the Novellara community through the hardest months following Saman’s disappearance and dramatic discovery, facing head-on the social and cultural implications of the case.
“As former mayor, I lived every day of this terrible story alongside my fellow citizens, giving voice to our united community. But later, also as a woman, I felt the need to always testify that Novellara and our territory have never forgotten Saman, daughter of this land, and her dreams that were so terribly interrupted,” the councilor continues.
“Justice has run its course and confirmed a painful truth: the premeditation of a horror born within the very family that should have protected her,” concludes Carletti. “Yet the end of the trials does not erase the void, because Saman’s remains an open wound in the heart of our community. In a context where there are even those who deny the reality of femicides, our commitment against gender violence and in favor of the emancipation and freedom of every woman certainly does not stop today. Because we owe it to Saman and to all the girls and women who only ask to be able to freely choose their own future and life path.”
The Appeal sentence
Four life sentences (the mother Nazia Shaheen, the father Shabbar Abbas, and the two cousins, Noman Ul Haq and Ijaz Ikram) and 22 years to the uncle, Danish Hasnain, are the sentences issued in mid-April last year on appeal. All defense lawyers had appealed. The position of the two cousins was the most delicate: they had been acquitted at first instance and then sentenced to life imprisonment on appeal.
At second instance, the life sentences for both parents were confirmed, while the sentence imposed on the uncle increased from 14 to 22 years.
The Cassation Court had postponed the verdict
The judges of the first section, after five hours of hearing, in mid-June had announced that in light of the complexity of the case the decision would be postponed. And the verdict arrived today.
The terrible crime
The last moments of Saman’s life were recorded by the video surveillance of the Bartoli company, on Via Colombo in Novellara. The young woman leaves with a backpack on her shoulder, accompanied by both parents. The same people who should have protected her from the evils of the world are captured while leading her down a road of no return, provoked by her desire to embrace Western culture. Saman had opposed the family’s dictates already in 2020, when she first turned to social services, then being taken in by a community in Bologna. In April 2021 she returned home to retrieve her documents, a request denied by her family. After days of no news about her, both social services and her then boyfriend, Saqib, who although a compatriot was not well regarded by the family, became alarmed.
The parents, uncle, and cousins had fled
On May 5, the carabinieri arrived at the Abbas home finding only the younger brother, Alì Haider. The parents had by then already fled to Pakistan: both were arrested and extradited between 2022 and 2024. The uncle and cousins, instead, were intercepted and arrested abroad (France and Spain). Danish Hasnain has always denied killing his niece, but admitted to participating in her burial. The General Prosecutor’s Office of the Court of Cassation had therefore requested confirmation of the sentences for all defendants, emphasizing that they were facing “not a crime of impulse but a premeditated action. It is clear and evident that Saman could not decide on her own, the reconstruction of the facts is unequivocal. A chilling story, a collective and premeditated act.”
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