Pakistani Court Upholds Death Sentences for Two Men Convicted of Gang-Raping French Tourist on Motorway

Two judges dismissed the appeal of Abid Malhi and Shafqat Ali, upholding their March 2021 convictions and death sentences for kidnapping, gang rape, robbery, and terrorism offences against a French tourist on the Sialkot-Lahore Motorway. The prosecution argued there was overwhelming evidence against the two men during the appeal, according to the English-language Pakistani news outlet Dawn.

The men’s lawyers had claimed the original judge’s decision was unjust and that gaps existed in the prosecution’s account.

Abid Malhi and Shafqat Ali attacked the woman on September 9, 2020, after she and her three children became stranded on the road leading out of Lahore. The attackers broke the window of her car, dragged her outside, and raped her at gunpoint in front of the children. They also stole money, jewellery, and bank cards.

The woman provided a basic description of her attackers to police. Officers tracked the men through mobile phone data and arrested them several days after the incident. Both men were identified from DNA samples taken from the crime scene.

The victim confirmed their identities during a hearing, and Shafqat Ali confessed to the crime in front of a magistrate. The prosecution presented 53 witnesses, including the victim and the person who reported the incident on the police emergency helpline. Widespread protests took place across Pakistan after the attack.

A senior police official in Lahore, Umer Sheikh, appeared before the media and questioned why the woman had not taken a busier road with her young children. He said no one in Pakistan would “allow their sisters and daughters to travel alone so late” and that the French woman “mistook that Pakistani society is just as safe” as her country of residence.

These remarks drew public condemnation and prompted further protests.

The decision to maintain the death sentences followed calls from activists for harsher penalties for rapists.