Mohammad Arif Ali and Mohammad Farman Ali were originally arrested in 2011 for stealing the body of a dead woman from her grave. The name of the woman was Saira Parveen. She was a 24-year old who had died of throat cancer and was laid to rest by her family. The day following the burial, family members of Saira decided to visit the gravesite. When they went to pay their respects, they noticed that the dirt within the grave site had caved in. Upon further investigation, the family members were horrified to discover that Saira’s body was completely gone. The police were called and an investigation was pursued. The investigation led the police to the home of Mohammad Arif Ali and Mohammad Farman Ali, where police walked into a gruesome scene. Inside the home, the limbs of the deceased woman’s body was found in a pot that was simmering on the stove.
The First Incident and sentence
Once interrogated, the brothers admitted to digging up over 100 graves and making “stew” out of the corpses that were buried in the graves. Because Pakistan has no law against cannibalism, the duo only spent two years in prison. They were charged with desecration of the grave. Once their sentence was up, they were able to settle back into their regular lives in the small town of Darya Khan in Bhakkar District in the Punjab. While the brothers kept a low profile following their release, many local villagers protested and demanded that something be done about these two blood related cannibals.
On the right: The stew in question
The Second Incident
Even after serving two years in prison, the brothers did not seem to learn their lesson. The two were back to their old ways in 2014, when they were re-arrested after police discovered the severed head of a three year old boy in their home. Neighbors of the duo complained of a stench coming from their home which led to a police raid, where the remains of a young toddler were found. Both Mohammad Arif Ali and Mohammad Farman Ali were sentenced to 12 years in prison following this incident.
Unfortunately, cannibalism still remains legal in Pakistan. There are absolutely no set laws against digging up graves and consuming human flesh. Is a 12 year sentence really a severe enough punishment for these two monsters that literally dined and feasted on human legs, arms, and torsos? We don’t seem to think so and other law-abiding citizens in Pakistan seem to agree, so they’re doing something about it.
Pakistan Laws
Following these horrific incidents, two bills were presented to the National Assembly in Pakistan. The first bill states that people will serve at least 7 years in prison for consuming human flesh. The second bill states that exhuming a human body with the intention of cooking, selling, or using that body for magical purposes will get a violator anywhere from 10 years to life in prison. If these laws are passed, the duo could end up facing life in prison.
Why Did They Do It?
Nobody really knows what prompted Mohammad Arif Ali and Mohammad Farman Ali to eat human flesh. However, many believe that because their wives left them years ago, they were some-what depressed. The two lived in a house together where they were isolated and they really did not have much human interaction, besides with those who were already deceased. According to sources, Arif Ali was the mastermind in this human-eating expedition. Arif’s brother, Farman Ali, seemed to just go along with whatever his brother suggested and wanted. Talk about a codependent relationship!
Other investigation leads pointed at a sorcerer who helped the men get involved with this macabre business. Apparently, the sorcerer, whose name is not known, was caught stealing bodies from graves several years earlier. The brothers were known to be associated with this man and many believe that he is the one who introduced the brothers to this type of lifestyle. During interrogation, Farman Ali admitted that he would try to cast spells on his neighbors. In order for those spells to be effective, the brothers had to eat human flesh.
Even after the brothers admitted their guilt, some of their family members still think they’re innocent. Reporter, M Ilyas Khan from BBC News went to visit the small town of Darya Khan where he interviewed Wali Deen, who is an uncle to the brothers. When asked about the horrible crimes his nephews had committed, Deen exclaims “They are just the victims of their neighbors’ jealousy.” It appears that the uncle is still in denial of what occurred.
No one really knows whether the two brothers are just deemed mentally insane or whether they actually knew what they were doing and they’re just deviant, corrupt, and disturbed individuals. The two flesh eaters remain behind bars and there has been word that they refuse to eat any prison food.
