Family of Brit ‘strangled and stabbed for marrying outside family’ on the run in Pakistan, say cops
The former husband, father and cousin of Samia Shahid are thought to be on the run
THE former husband, father and cousin of a Bradford woman who was the allegedly murdered for marrying outside her family in Pakistan did not show up for a court hearing.
The senior officer in charge of the police station where the case is registered has said the trio are on the run.
The 28-year-old was strangled and stabbed, forensic tests indicate, but her family was initially told she died from a heart attack.
Samia Shahid was visiting family in the Punjab village of Pandori last month when she died.
He second husband Syed Mukhtar Kazam, who lived with her in Dubai, believes she was murdered for marrying outside the family.
Her relatives told him she died of a sudden heart attack or asthma attack after she was buried in a village graveyard.
Pakistan cops claimed a quick post-mortem was carried out and have found no visible injuries or signs of violence on her body.
But Mr Kazam, who married her at Leeds Town Hall in September 2014, says she was killed by her family because they refused to accept her marrying an ‘outsider’.
A full investigation into her death only began after Mr Kazam raised the alarm with friends in the UK.
Bradford MP Naz Shah demanded that Pakistani authorities exhume her body and commission an independent postmortem.
Local police chief Jehlum Mujahid Akbar admitted the death of Samia, from Bradford, was “not due to natural causes”.
Regional Police Officer Wisal Fakhar Sultan Raja said: “The accused are arrested and after interrogations we hope to find out the truth.
“The post-mortem report that saliva was oozing out of her mouth and she had wound mark on her neck indicates she was suffocated to death.
“Since the wound mark is fresh and dated at the time of death there is little doubt she has been killed.”
Mian Mohammad Arif, the lawyer for the accused, : “Last night we had submitted a habeas corpus application with the local court and the judge presiding over Samia’s case had sent a bailiff to the police station to bring the accused to the courts this morning [Saturday], but the police did not produce them.”
The lawyer claims that Mohammed Shakeel, Shahid’s ex-husband who is also her cousin, was last seen by his family and relatives before going to the police station to submit a pre-arrest bail that he had acquired on 28 July, through his counsel.
Mr Arif added: “The police did not let him go even though he had pre-arrest bail orders from the court. The police detained him and now they are saying [they] have no idea about where he is.”
Malik Ageel, station house officer of the Mangla police station, said the three were questioned when they came in to the station but then they were let go.
He said: “They are on the run but we will find them.”
The hearing was scheduled for Saturday but Shakeel’s bail was extended until August 13.
If he is not produced before the court by then, the judge warned a formal complaint of kidnapping could be filed against Mr Ageel.
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