A NEWSAGENT has been sentenced to life in prison with seven years’ hard labour after being found guilty of drugging, robbing and murdering his wife during a holiday to Pakistan.

Glasgow-born Mumtaz Sattar was attacked by Abdul Sattar and three accomplices after arriving in the Punjab province to visit her husband’s family in September 2013.

After a protracted legal fight that was dogged by accusations of corruption on the part of a number of local officials, Mr Sattar and his co-accused were this week convicted by a court in the Punjabi town of Shahkot.

They were each handed a life sentence for murdering Mrs Sattar as well as two consecutive sentences of seven years with hard labour for also doping and robbing her.

Glasgow lawyer Aamer Anwar, who instructed a private prosecution team in Pakistan on behalf of Mrs Sattar’s family, said the sentences mean her relations can now “finally grieve for her loss as they have justice”.

“Mumtaz Sattar’s family have struggled long and hard for justice following her murder in September 2013,” he said.

“It has taken over four years and three sets of lawyers to get justice and in that period individuals in the Punjab legal system stood accused of corruption and taking bribes, whilst Mumtaz’s family were subjected to threats of violence if they did not withdraw the case.

“The family persevered and refused to give in, showing immense courage.

“Fundamentally they did so because of their love for Mumtaz.”

At the time of her murder Mrs Sattar had been married to her husband, with whom she had two daughters now aged 14 and 17, for 14 years.

Mr Sattar claimed that after they flew to Lahore in September 2013 he and his wife took an unlicensed taxi with two unknown men only for the driver to later give them tea laced with drugs.

Mr Sattar further claimed that after they both fell unconscious he and his wife were thrown from the moving car and when he cam round he found his wife dying beside him with a head wound.

He then arranged to have her buried within 14 hours of her death, with her family in Scotland unable to attend.

Mr Anwar, who has acted pro-bono for Mrs Sattar’s family since being instructed four years ago, said Mr Sattar’s story began to unravel when CCTV images from the airport showed him greeting the supposedly unknown men with a hug.

In addition, when Edinburgh-based pathologist Professor Anthony Busuttil reviewed a post-mortem report produced in Pakistan he said a fractured bone in Mrs Sattar’s neck pointed to her having been throttled.

“This was a coldly calculated and evil murder perpetrated by Abdul Sattar and three other men,” said Mr Anwar.

“The sole motive appears to have been his greed for money and wish to remarry.

“He took her to Pakistan with a plan hatched to murder her within hours of their arrival.

“He hoped that by burying her within 14 hours and [coming up with] a wildly concocted story he would cover his tracks and escape to the UK.”

Mr Anwar added that Mrs Sattar’s family would not be seeking to appeal the sentence to ask for the death penalty, which has been reinstated in Pakistan since a moratorium on its use was lifted in 2015.