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Pakistan police say Italian woman was ‘strangled to death’

Pakistani police on Wednesday said an Italian woman who died under suspicious circumstances last month was strangled to death, in a case that made headlines in Italy over claims she was murdered in a so-called honour killing.

Published: 9 May 2018 13:49 CEST

Pakistan police say Italian woman was 'strangled to death'

People in Pakistan protest against so-called honour killings in Islamabad, 2014. Photo: Aamir Qureshi/AFP

Police in the eastern city of Gujrat launched an investigation into the death of Sana Cheema – a Brescia resident of Pakistani origin and believed to have been in her mid-twenties – after allegations she had been murdered by relatives spread online.

Her body was later exhumed and an autopsy performed, leading to the discovery she had been brutally assaulted.

“It has now been confirmed that she was strangled to death. And according to the report, her neck was also broken,” Irfan Sulehri, a senior police officer in Gujrat told AFP. A second police officer from Gujrat, Waqar Gujjar, confirmed the findings of the forensics report.

“The accused persons are already in police custody,” Sulehri added.

Cheema's father, brother and uncle were taken into custody for questioning after the investigation was launched.

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According to family members, Cheema died in early April after succumbing to an unspecified illness.

Police said Cheema's father Ghulam Mustafa brought her back to Pakistan to get married.

According to the woman's family, this led to a confrontation with a nearby family who spurned the offer of a match. Because of the rejection Cheema refused to eat, fell ill and died, relatives told police.

However, reports in Italian newspapers alleged Cheema was murdered because she wanted to marry a man in Italy against her family's wishes.

Hundreds of women in Pakistan are killed by their relatives each year after allegedly bringing shame on their families in the deeply conservative Muslim country.

Under previous legislation the culprits – usually men – could escape punishment if pardoned by members of their own family. A new law removes the power to forgive culprits in such cases but critics contend some loopholes still exist.

READ ALSO: At least 114 women were murdered in Italy last year

Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

REVEALED: Where in Italy you're most likely to be a victim of crime

While Italy is among the safest countries in the world – it ranked 33rd out of 163 in the latest Global Peace Index report, right above the UK – crime is still a concern, especially in metropolitan cities and tourist hotspots.

According to the annual crime report from newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, which collated the most recent data from Italy’s Department of Public Security, Milan was the Italian city with the highest crime rate in 2023.

Overall, some 230,394 crimes were reported in the northern metropolis last year, which corresponded to 7,094 offences for every 100,000 residents.

Milan was followed by Italy’s capital, Rome, with 6,071 reported crimes for every 100,000 residents (up by nearly 600 compared to 2022) and Florence, with 6,053.

The top ten was completed by Rimini (6,002 reports for every 100,000 residents), Turin (5,685), Bologna (5,539), Prato (4,887), Imperia (4,838), Venice (4,825) and Livorno (4,743).

At the other end of the spectrum, Oristano, Sardinia, was the Italian city with the lowest crime rate in 2023 as it ‘only’ saw 1,511 offences for every 100,000 residents.

Oristano was followed by Potenza, Basilicata (1,934) and Treviso, Veneto (2,258).

Single-offence rankings

While the overall crime rate ranking provides a picture of Italy’s major crime hotspots, it doesn’t allow for any insight into the types of offences committed locally, which is why it is worth looking into single-offence rankings.

Milan, Rome and Rimini (a popular seaside resort on Emilia Romagna’s Adriatic coast) were the Italian cities with the highest theft rates in 2023, with the northern city registering nearly 3,900 reported thefts (furti) for every 100,000 residents and the capital stopping just shy of the 3,500 mark.

Milan was also Italy’s least-safe city when it came to petty theft and pickpocketing, with over 900 such offences reported for every 100,000 residents.

READ ALSO: How bad is pickpocketing in Italy’s major cities?

Florence was the Italian city with the highest robbery rate (rapine), with 136 offences for every 100,000 residents.

The Tuscan city was followed by Milan (128) and Prato (124).

Outside of big cities and popular tourist destinations, a number of smaller and, perhaps, slightly unassuming Italian cities had their own crime ‘specialisations’ in 2023.

For instance, Ragusa, Sicily, ranked first in vehicle theft, while Pisa, Tuscany, came in first in reported home burglary offences.

Trieste, Friuli Venezia Giulia, had the highest sexual assault rate (24 reports for every 100,000 residents) in the country, whereas Crotone ranked first for attempted murder.

READ ALSO: The 8 red flags to look out for to avoid rental scams in Italy

Turin came in first for cyber fraud and online scams, while Isernia, Molise, was Italy’s extortion capital.

National picture

At a national level, reported crimes were up by 3.8 percent compared to 2022, with online fraud and robbery registering 10.3- and 9.5-percent increases respectively.

Assault offences also registered a 3.1-percent year-on-year increase, while there were 341 murders in 2023 – up by 13 against 2019.

According to Marco Dugato, a researcher at the Crime Observatory of Milan’s Cattolica University, the latest increases “must be monitored, particularly for certain types of crime”.

In particular, “the rise of more impulsive, less planned, but more aggressive forms of criminal activity” such as assault and robbery “is of concern”.

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