Death Penalty Upheld for Two Men Who Raped French Tourist in Pakistan as Her Children Watched

A Pakistani high court has confirmed the death sentence for two men convicted of gang-raping a French tourist at gunpoint in front of her three children. The ruling, handed down on June 3, 2026, by the Lahore High Court, rejected appeals from Abid and Shafqat Ali, who had challenged their 2021 convictions for rape, kidnapping, and robbery. The attack occurred in September 2020 on the Sialkot-Lahore highway. The victim, a French woman of Pakistani descent, had pulled over after running out of fuel late at night. She locked her car doors and waited for help. The two men broke the window, dragged her out, and assaulted her while her children sat helplessly inside. They then stole cash, jewelry, and bank cards before fleeing. Police tracked them down within days using evidence from the scene, and the victim identified both men during the trial. One of the attackers confessed. The case sparked widespread outrage across Pakistan, especially after Lahore police chief Umer Sheikh questioned why the woman was driving at night and suggested she should have taken a different route. The comment drew fierce criticism and fueled protests. The court’s decision to uphold the death penalty has been met with mixed reactions—some see it as justice, while others question the handling of the case from the start.