Pakistanis who gang-raped French tourist in front of her three children after her car ran out of fuel will be executed, court rules

By SABRINA PENTY, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 14:15, 3 June 2026 | Updated: 14:17, 3 June 2026 Two Pakistani men who gang-raped a French tourist in front of her three children six years ago will be sentenced to death, a court has ruled.  Abid Malhi and Shafqat Ali were convicted of gang rape, kidnapping, robbery and terrorism offences back in March 2021 over the attack on the Sialkot-Lahore Motorway and were handed the death penalty. Both appealed their conviction, with the defence arguing that there were gaps in the prosecution's version of events and that the judge’s decision was unjust.  But on Wednesday, two judges dismissed the appeal after the prosecution argued that there was overwhelming evidence against the two men, according to the English-language Pakistani news outlet, Dawn. According to the prosecutor and police, Malhi and Ali unleashed their attack on September 9, 2020, after the woman and her three children became stranded on the motorway leading out of Lahore after running out of fuel.  She had locked the car doors while she waited for help, but the attackers broke a window and dragged her outside, where they raped her at gunpoint in front of her terrified children.  The men also stole money, jewellery, and bank cards before fleeing.  Police said the woman was left traumatised, although she was able to provide them with some basic descriptions of her attackers.   Two Pakistani men will be sentenced to death over the gang rape of a French woman in front of her children in Lahore in 2020. FILE PHOTO: Pakistani security officials stand guard at a district jail the special court set up for the trial of two men in the motorway gang rape case, in Lahore, Pakistan, 20 March 2021 FILE PHOTO: An armoured vehicle enters the District Jail Lahore before the shifting of the two men accused of gang rape to another jail, in Lahore on March 20, 2021 They were tracked down via mobile phone data and arrested days after the incident.  DNA samples taken from the crime scene matched theirs. The survivor identified the two men during a hearing, and Ali confessed to the crime before a magistrate. An anti-terrorism court handled the 2021 trial for expediency.  The case drew widespread condemnation on social media, with some activists demanding that those involved be hanged in public. It also led to mass protests across Pakistan, after a policeman questioned why the woman had been out late on her own.  The day after the attack, a senior police official in Lahore, Umer Sheikh, appeared in front of the media and implied the woman was partly to blame.  He questioned why she had not taken a busier road, given that she was alone with her young children.  FILE PHOTO: People carry signs against a gang rape that occurred along a highway and to condemn violence against women and girls, during a protest in Karachi, Pakistan September 12, 2020 His remarks prompted a widespread reaction on social media, with Pakistanis calling him out for victim-blaming.   The decision to maintain the death penalty comes after human rights activists urged the government to introduce harsher penalties for rapists.  Although sexual abuse against Pakistani women is common, such crimes against foreigners are rare.  Many Pakistani women don’t report such incidents to avoid stigma in a society where rapists often escape justice because of flaws in the legal system and poor investigations by police.  Pakistan is among the world's harshest users of the death penalty, according to legal action group Justice Project Pakistan.  The country carries out its executions at several locations, but all die by hanging.   The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.