Murder of Sadia Sheikh
Sadia Sheikh was a 20-year-old Belgian student of Pakistani heritage who was killed in Charleroi, Belgium, on 22 October 2007. Born in Brussels, she studied law in Charleroi and had been trying to reconcile with her family after they pressured her to marry a cousin in Pakistan.
Her brother, Mudusar Sheikh, shot Sadia three times in Lodelinsart, while her sister Sariya Sheikh was wounded. The murder is regarded as an honour killing, linked to her parents’ demands for an arranged marriage. Sadia had left home and later lived with a Belgian man named Jean, hoping for reconciliation with her family.
In the 2011 trial, Mudusar confessed to the murder, but the court found all four family members guilty of involvement, and the act was recognized as an honour killing. Sentences were handed down in December 2011: Mudusar received 15 years; the parents were sentenced to 20 and 25 years; Sariya, who was five months pregnant at the time, received five years. The case is often described as Belgium’s first honour-killing trial, and it highlighted gender equality issues raised by civil rights groups.
During the trial, the courthouse briefly emptied after a bomb threat, which turned out to be false. Sadia Sheikh was buried in Pakistan. The case inspired the 2016 film A Wedding. Parveen Zahida (the mother) was released after six years in prison.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 04:49 (CET).