Ex-husband awarded death sentence in Wajiha Swati's murder case

ISLAMABAD: A local court in Rawalpindi on Saturday handed down capital punishment and 10 years of imprisonment to Rizwan Habib, ex-husband of Pakistan-born US national Wajiha Swati, after finding him guilty of killing her.

US citizen of Pakistani origin Wajiha Swati was found dead in December 2021, two months after she went missing from Rawalpindi.

The court also awarded seven years of imprisonment to co-accused Hurriyatullah and Sultan in the case.

During today's hearing, all the convicts, and US agency Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials were present in court while the additional district and sessions judge announced the verdict.

The case

Last year in October, Wajiha Swati had gone missing after arriving in Rawalpindi and her body was recovered by the police on December 25.

Her ex-husband Habib reportedly confessed to killing Swati during police interrogation. He also told the police that he had planned to seek asylum and citizenship in Poland after the murder, for which he had obtained a passport.

According to the police, Habib revealed that his father — who was also arrested on charges of aiding and abetting the murder — had said that "it would cost only Rs50,000 to kill Wajiha".

As per the details, Swati came to Pakistan from England on October 16 to resolve property issues with her ex-husband. The US woman was murdered the same day she arrived in Rawalpindi, while a case regarding her abduction was registered at Morgah Police Station in Rawalpindi on her son's complaint.

The culprit buried Swati's body in Hangu, from where a police team exhumed her body on the direction of RPO Rawalpindi.