Italy's foreign minister proudly announced the return to Italy today of a young Pakistani woman who was taken by her family to Pakistan to have an abortion against her will after she got pregnant by her Italian boyfriend.
The case of the woman, identified as Farah, attracted a lot of interest in Italy following the recent strangulation death in Pakistan of Sana Cheema, an Italian of Pakistani origin who police suspect was killed by her family because she refused an arranged marriage.
Farah, 19, didn't have Italian citizenship, only a residency permit. Nevertheless, the foreign ministry activated Italy's embassy in Islamabad after Verona authorities heard from Farah's friends that she had been tricked into going home and was forced to have an abortion.
Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano tweeted today that Farah was safely back in Italy, and he thanked Pakistani authorities who had removed Farah from her family's Lahore-area home and brought her to the Italian embassy in Islamabad.
Alfano had previously said that Italy acted in Farah's defense as a matter of respecting her human rights and "fundamental rights based on the equality of men and women."