The father of Sarah Inam — a Canadian national who was murdered by her husband Shahnawaz Amir in Islamabad in Sept 2022 — has challenged in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) the acquittal of the victim’s mother-in-law Samina Shah, who was the co-accused in the case.

A day after arriving in the capital from Dubai where she worked, Sarah was murdered at a farmhouse located in Shahzad Town where Shahnawaz — the son of renowned journalist Ayaz Amir — lived along with his mother.

Initially, Shahnawaz, his mother as well as Ayaz was arrested and nominated in the first information report (FIR) but the latter was eventually discharged from the case.

The mother-son duo were indicted in the case in December 2022, while in October of 2023, Investigation Officer (IO) Habibur Rehman testified that Shahnawaz had confessed to the crime.

In Dec 2023, an Islamabad trial court sentenced Shahnawaz to death for the murder of Sarah and imposed a fine of Rs1 million on him but acquitted Samina.

Sarah’s father filed a petition in IHC today against her acquittal, stating that the trial court’s decision was “perverse and arbitrary” and based on “surmises and conjectures”.

The appeal, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, stated that the trial court’s judgement specific to Samina was “against the law and the facts of the case.”

“It is, therefore, respectfully prayed that impugned judgment to the extent of respondent no. 2 […] may kindly be modified and […] be given maximum sentence, in the best interest of justice,” the appeal said.

While speaking to the media outside the high court, Sara’s father maintained that Samina was indeed an accomplice in the murder of his daughter.

He clarified that his appeal was against only the part of the order that dealt with Samina.

When asked if he has any evidence to back his claim, Rahim said that only three people were present in the farmhouse from 8pm to 10am when his daughter was murdered.

“Shahnawaz Amir did kill my daughter but his mother did assist him,” he said. “She definitely had some role to play and should be convicted of that accordingly.”