Pakistani man extradited to UK, charged with wife's murder 20 years ago

A Pakistani man extradited to the United Kingdom has been charged in connection with the murder of his wife two decades ago.

Zafar Iqbal, 61, arrived in the UK on Tuesday in connection with the murder of Naziat Khan in Streatham in August 2001, according to a statement of the Metropolitan Police.

It said that after arriving in the UK, Zafar was taken to a west London police station where he was later charged with murder. He will appear at Croydon Magistrates’ Court via a video link on Wednesday, it added.

Read more: Man murders wife; police challan rules out suicide

The statement further said that Naziat’s family have been kept informed of developments throughout and continue to be supported by specialist officers.

"The extradition was the result of collaborative work between the Met, the Crown Prosecution Service, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the National Crime Agency."

Taking to Twitter, British High Commissioner to Pakistan Dr Christian Turner thanked everyone involved and said that the close collaboration between the British and Pakistani teams led to this moment.

Also read: Man murders wife for ‘honour’

"We can't bring Naziat back but we can do our best to ensure that her family gets the justice they deserve," he wrote on the microblogging site.

According to The Sun, Naziat was found strangled in the family's south London home in 2001.

Naziat, who died at the age of 38, had been married to Zafar for 16 years, and the couple had four children.

Zafar left Streatham after her death 20 years ago, and an appeal was launched for his extradition from Pakistan.