by The elderly father of an Indian woman on trial in the UAE has made a desperate appeal for mercy to the Gulf state’s ruling family and his own country’s leaders in a last-ditch bid to save her life.
Shahzadi Khan, 33, is alleged to have been lured and trafficked to Abu Dhabi by fraudsters before being implicated in the death of an infant, a crime she vehemently denies. Jailed in Al Batwa prison, she could be executed any day after September 20, said her father Shabbir Khan The Independent.
Mr Khan is now asking President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and ensure mercy for his child.
“My daughter is innocent, please help save her,” said Mr. Khan, 67,.
Their ordeal began in 2021, during the Covid pandemic, when she befriended a man named Uzair on Facebook, Mr Khan, a resident of Goira Mughlai village in northern Banda district of Uttar Pradesh state, said.
Her father said Shahzadi had been promised treatment for the burns she suffered on her face and body as a child after accidentally spilling boiling hot water on her.
“Uzair told her he would be able to get her better medical care in the UAE and, circumstances permitting, even a job,” Mr Khan said. “He told her that her uncle and aunt lived in Abu Dhabi and could help with a tourist visa. And she could work for them while she was there.”
Uzair, from Agra in Uttar Pradesh, claimed to be a social worker and businessman, Mr Khan said.
“Shahzadi hesitated,” he said. “Uzair reassured her, ‘The visa is only for 90 days and you can return after that.'”
The Independent he could not touch Uzair.
Mr Khan claimed that after arriving in the Gulf country in November 2021, his daughter discovered that her visa was for six months and that she had been “sold” to a married couple as a bonded labourer, for a large sum apparently.
She was tasked with looking after the couple’s four-month-old baby.
The baby died in February and Ms Khan was falsely accused of shielding the couple from blame, her father claimed.
She was “caught and forced to sign a false confession” by the child’s mother, which led to her being wrongfully convicted, Mr Khan said.
“But she didn’t do it. My daughter is innocent,” he said, lamenting his inability to ensure effective legal representation for her due to lack of resources.
He was “at peace” with his daughter’s situation as a bonded labourer, Mr Khan said, because “at least they gave her food and shelter”.
“But when I didn’t get a call from her for ten days, I got worried,” he said. “I would call her every day but there was no answer.”
Mr Khan eventually sought help from a local police station who put him in touch with authorities in the Gulf nation. “That’s when I found out she was jailed for murder.”
According to Abu Dhabi court documents, Mr Khan asphyxiated the infant “on the spur of the moment”. She was angry with her employers for “bad treatment and non-delivery of salary”, the court was told during the trial, and took out her frustration on her child.
However, the doctor who testified at the trial said the infant’s family did not allow him to perform a post-mortem examination, so he could not definitively confirm asphyxiation as the cause of death. The child received a vaccine shot that morning and was running a fever, the court was also told.
“How could my daughter be blamed when there wasn’t even an autopsy?” Mr. Khan asked. “If she had had good legal representation, she would not have been convicted.”
The Independent she contacted the victim’s mother by phone but did not receive a response.
In July, Mr Khan filed a police complaint against Uzair for allegedly duping and trafficking his daughter.
After the Allahabad High Court allowed Uzair to apply for interim bail, Mr Khan wrote to the Indian president, prime minister and home and foreign affairs ministries, pleading for their help in saving his daughter’s life. He also sought a speedy investigation into what he alleged was a conspiracy to link his daughter to the infant’s death.
In the letter, Mr Khan demanded the arrest of Uzair. He claimed that Uzair was “on the run” after the high court refused to quash the case against him and allow him to apply for bail before a lower court.
“My daughter’s death sentence was originally scheduled for May 2, 2023,” he said. It was postponed after the UAE was hit by floods and a member of the royal family, Sheikh Hazza bin Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, died, triggering a period of mourning.
“But an officer told my daughter earlier this month that she could be hanged any time after September 20,” Mr Khan said.
As the days go by, the family’s hope is dwindling. “I hope there will be justice. I ask the government to help me save my daughter, who was caught in this case. Please do something to save her, to stop her execution,” said Mr. Khan.
“We tell her to have faith in God, that He will save her,” he said, remembering the last conversation he had with his daughter.
