A Pakistani court has sentenced a man to death for the abduction and murder of his American ex-wife over a multi-billion-rupee property dispute. The court ordered that the convict be hanged until death.

According to case details, the convict, Rizwan Habib, was found guilty of abducting and murdering his former wife, Wajiha Swati, a US citizen, after luring her to Pakistan under the pretense of resolving a property dispute.

The court awarded him the death penalty along with a fine of Rs500,000. He was also sentenced to 10 years in prison and a Rs100,000 fine for abduction, and 7 years in prison with another Rs100,000 fine for tampering with evidence.

An accomplice, Sultan, was also sentenced to 7 years in prison and fined Rs 100,000.

The verdict was announced in the presence of three American diplomats and one FBI officer, who expressed satisfaction over the ruling. Following the verdict, Rizwan Habib was transferred under tight security to Adiala Jail.

The case dates back to October 16, 2021, when Wajiha Swati arrived in Pakistan from the US after being deceived by her former husband into believing a settlement would be reached over property worth billions of rupees, which legally belonged to her. Upon her arrival, Habib murdered her and transported her mutilated body from Rawalpindi to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where it was secretly buried.

After the murder, the convict pretended that Wajiha had gone missing and even participated in the investigation. However, upon being arrested, he confessed to the crime and led police to the location of her buried body in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Wajiha’s son, Abdullah, had registered an FIR online from the United States at the Morgah Police Station. Initially, Rizwan Habib was sentenced to death, but the High Court had remanded the case for retrial. Today, Additional District and Sessions Judge Chaudhry Majid Hussain Ghadi reissued the death sentence after the retrial.

The case saw active monitoring and participation by US authorities, with FBI agents and diplomats attending every hearing. Wajiha’s remains were eventually repatriated to the US, where a second post-mortem was conducted. A forensic report by an American laboratory confirmed that the cause of death was torture.

The prosecution in the case was led by government lawyer Iffat Sultana on behalf of the victim.