LONDON: A UK court on Thursday upheld lengthy prison terms handed to the father and stepmother of a 10-year-old British-Pakistani girl who was killed after suffering years of torture and abuse.

The trial of Urfan Sharif and his wife Beinash Batool caused waves of revulsion in the UK at the horrific way they had treated Sara Sharif.

Sharif, 43, Batool, 30, and Sara’s uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, all lost bids on Thursday to appeal against their sentences.

Sara’s father was sentenced in December to 40 years in prison for her murder, while her stepmother was ordered to remain in jail for at least 33 years. Her uncle was sentenced to 16 years after being found guilty of causing or allowing her death.

Sara’s body was found in bed at the family home in August 2023 covered in bites and bruises with broken bones and burns inflicted by an electric iron and boiling water.

Sharif’s lawyer Naeem Majid Mian argued that although Sara’s treatment had been “horrendous”, it did not merit his 40-year sentence. “There was no intention to kill... and (the death) was not premeditated.”

But documents submitted to the court on behalf of the solicitor general, one of the government’s top legal officers, called for Sharif to have an indefinite sentence imposed.

A lawyer for Sara’s stepmother also told the court that her sentence of 33 years was too long and did not “justly reflect her role”.

Dismissing Sharif’s appeal, Lady Chief Justice Sue Carr, the highest-ranking judge in England and Wales, said: “We can see no arguable basis to challenge the conclusion of the trial judge.”

Passing sentence in December after the trial, judge John Cavanagh said Sara had been subjected to “acts of extreme cruelty” but that Sharif and Batool had not shown “a shred of remorse”.

They had treated Sara as “worthless” and as “a skivvy”, because she was a girl.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2025