Ex-husband awarded death sentence for killing US citizen Wajiha Swati

RAWALPINDI: A sessions court awarded the death sentence and ten years imprisonment to the former husband of Pakistan-origin American citizen Wajiha Swati who was abducted and killed last year.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka announced the verdict and awarded the death penalty to prime accused Rizwan Habib, who was the former husband of Wajiha.

The court also awarded seven years jail terms each to two other accused, Hurriyatullah and Sultan, while three suspects including Yousuf, Zahida, and Rasheed were acquitted in the case.

The verdict was announced after the judge recorded the final statements of the public prosecutor and the defence counsel for all six suspects in the case. A team from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBO) was also present in court

Wajiha Swati was found dead in December 2021, two months after she went missing from Rawalpindi in October. The case was registered by the Morgah police station on October 17, 2021.

Habib had killed Swati on the very first day of her arrival from the United States. He had confessed to the murder during initial interrogations.

During the investigation, Rizwan Habib revealed that his father – who was also arrested in the case – said it would cost only Rs50,000 to kill Wajiha. He said that he planned to seek asylum in Poland and obtain citizenship and even secured a passport.

CPO Rawalpindi said that Rizwan received Wajiha from the airport on October 16 after she arrived from England to resolve a property dispute.

He took her with him to Rawalpindi. and killed her before burying the body at the house of his domestic servant in Lakki Marwat. The body was exhumed two months later on the directives of RPO Rawalpindi.