A sessions court in Islamabad announced on Tuesday death sentence for Umar Hayat after finding him guilty of murdering 17-year-old TikTok influencer Sana Yousaf on June 2, 2025 at her house.
Hayat was arrested a day after the murder. The 23-year-old had retracted his confessional statement a day earlier on May 18, 2026.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka announced death sentence under Section 302(b) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) for committing qatl-i-amd (intentional murder). The death sentence would, however, be subject to confirmation by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) under Section 374 (sentence of death to be submitted by court of session) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
Hayat has also been directed to pay Rs2.5 million as compensation to the legal heirs of the deceased.
In his confession recorded on July 2025, he claimed that he developed one-sided obsession with Yousaf after talking to her online and said he committed the crime because of jealousy and suspicion.
He had claimed that he had travelled from Jaranwala to Islamabad on May 28, 2025 to wish Yousaf on her birthday but she refused to meet him. He then returned on June 2 the same year and shot her with a 30-bore pistol. He has since retracted the statement and claimed that he gave the statement under pressure from the police.
