UAE executed India woman for murder of child, without informing her family, gov’t

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) executed an Indian woman who was convicted of murdering a child without informing her family or the state of India, Abu Dhabi has finally revealed.

Thirty-three-year-old Shahzadi Khan had been detained by Emirati authorities since 10 February 2023 after allegedly murdering the four-month-old child of her employer at the time, leading to her conviction and sentencing to death on 31 July that same year.

On 15 February this year, she was executed at Al Wathba Prison in Abu Dhabi, where she had been held.

The UAE, however, failed to announce her execution to either the Indian government or her family, with her status only being revealed at a court hearing yesterday, following a plea filed by the woman’s father Shabbir Khan.

It was then that Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma from the Delhi High Court informed the court and the father that “it is over. She was executed on 15 February. Her last rites will be held on 5 March.”

According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Emirati authorities officially notified the Indian embassy of the execution on 28 February. It added that despite multiple petitions for mercy and pardon requests to the UAE, the Gulf state’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, upheld the death sentence.

Speaking to the Press Trust of India news agency, father Shabbir Khan stated that “I tried a lot with the Indian government [to help reverse the judgment]. I had been running around since last year.”

He further clarified that “we did not have the money to go there [Abu Dhabi]. The lawyers were expensive and the government did not support us. They hanged her on 15 February and there was no news from MEA. I had a number on which I called and the woman who spoke to me told me my daughter was no more.”

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