saudi arabia is set to play host for the 2034 men's world cup, despite strong criticism from human rights groups. rebel fighters in syria have set fire to the tomb of the ousted president bashar al assad's father. i'm lyse doucet in damascus. the interim prime minister has urged syrian refugees around the world to return home. he is calling for calm. hello, i'm kasia madera. welcome to verified live. the father and stepmother of sara sharif, a ten—year—old girl who was found dead in her home here in the uk, have been convicted of her murder, after a trial

which heard harrowing details of her treatment before her killing. sara sharif was found dead in august 2023 at her home in woking, in surrey, after what prosecutors say was a campaign of "serious and repeated violence". craig emmerson, detective chief inspector at surrey police, gave this statement outside the court. today after a ten week trial, a jury has found urfan sharif and beinash batool, the father and stepmother of ten—year—old sara sharif, guilty of her murder. faisal malik, sarah's uncle, was found guilty of causing or allowing her death. sara was a bright and lively little girl who loved singing and dancing. and on behalf of surrey police, i would like to extend my deepest condolences to her mother, olga, her siblings and all those who knew

and cared for her. sarah's spirit and bravery and resilience in the face of the suffering that she endured has shone, shone through from the vast inquiries that have been undertaken in this case. judith reed from the crown prosecution service delivered this statement outside the court. it has been a painstaking operation by surrey police and the crown prosecution service to build this case and be able to prove to the jury that urfan sharif and beinash batool were both responsible for saras murder. by showing they were there in the run up to saras death, we were able to prove that both of them played their part in killing her. martine croxall is at the old bailey in central london yes, let's remind you this is the case of the ten—year—old girl who died in august of last yearin girl who died in august of last year in woking, surrey in the family home. she died on the 8th of august and on the following day her father, 8th of august and on the following day herfather, his wife and sara's uncle, with the rest of the family flew to

pakistan. sara's body was found on the 10th of august after police received a phone call lasted nearly minutes from pakistan. sara was found wrapped in cling clothes wrapped in cling clothes wrapped in cling clothes wrapped in her bed sheet on her bunk bed in the family home. then on the 13th of september the three defendants returned to the uk from pakistan and were charged on the 15th of september. it was today that the jury of seven women and three men returned a verdict of murderfor urfan sharif, the 43—year—old taxi driver and sara's father, beinash batool, who is 30 years of age and a housewife, sara's stepmother, also guilty of murder. faisal malik was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of causing or allowing the depth of the —— the death of a child. during the death of a child. during the course of this trail, a huge amount of evidence was presented that explained just how much abuse sara had

suffered. she was found with more than 70 external injuries, including more than 25 fractures, some of which were spinal injuries, which had healed and then had been re—broken. all three defendants had claimed that they were not guilty of the charges that they faced, but at one point during giving his evidence, urfan sharif said that it was not his intention to kill sara, but i beat her too much, he said, i take responsibility for what happened to my daughter. i didn't do what i should have done to protect her. each of the defendants, it seems, had tried to deflect attention away from them to blame other people, but urfan sharif had admitted that he tied up his daughter with packing tape to restrain her, that he had hit

her with a cricket bat, with a metal pole and with a mobile phone. but he denied causing the bite marks on her arm and five. he denied that he had scalded herfeet five. he denied that he had scalded her feet with five. he denied that he had scalded herfeet with boiling water. he denied holding her with a plastic bag, a home—made hood. and also denied burning her with an eye on. however, thejury here, of her with an eye on. however, the jury here, of course, didn't believe their testimony and the prosecution had made the case that this was a household in which violence had been normalised. at the end of the trial, thejudge thanked the trial, thejudge thanked thejury, saying, this case, above any other, has been stressful and traumatic. sentencing is due to take place next tuesday. martine croxall, thank you very much. martine croxall there at the old bailey. for weeks, the three adults 7 urfan sharif, sara s father, beinash batool, her stepmother, faisal malik, her uncle and five of sara s siblings 7 were the subject

of a police hunt in pakistan that spread across the country. when the adults left pakistan, there were still questions about how they had remained hidden for so long. 0ur pakistan correspondent caroline davies and her team spent months tracking down the man who says he hid them. punjab�*s rural heartland. more than 6000km away from woking, the route, the roads the sharif family took. but where and how did they stay undiscovered? we're off to meet a man who's related to urfan sharif by marriage. and through the conversations we've been having, we think he might know more about how the three adults stayed hidden for so long in pakistan. months of searching, tip offs and leads led us to this door in a one track village. during the hunt, police suspected rasik munir of helping hide sara's

father, urfan sharif, stepmother beinash batool and uncle faisal malik, as well as sara's five siblings. assalamu alaikum. speaking exclusively to the bbc before the trial began, he told us how he did it. urfan sharif room. this room? this is where he stayed. translation: yes, they stayed here. i they used to sleep here. they used to use this table for food. they used to sit here with beinash to contact the lawyer and to discuss how they should talk to police in the uk. rasik is known to the police as we talk. rasik is known to the police. as we talk, i notice a gun tucked

into his waistband. he tells us it's for his safety. sara's family left the uk for pakistan on the 9th of august, 2023. by the time that the pakistan police began looking for them on the 16th, rasik says they were already in hiding with him. you said that police raided here. if the police raided, how did they never find you or the children? translation: from this roof, you could see the police - from all four sides. then i used to take them here. we used to go inside the fields. you hid? you hid in here? yes. with children. they were scared. they couldn't understand what was going on. you still hid them from the police, knowing that the police wanted to talk to them about sara's death? urfan. i helped urfan and the young kids. if i hadn't helped them, they would have been completely helpless. rasik told us that despite the police hunt, he still took the family out for haircuts, pizza and ice cream and moved them between here and sarah's between here and sara's

grandfather's house two hours away. it was at the grandfather's house in september 2023 that police raided and found the five children. we filmed the aftermath. now, incredibly, rasik says the three adults were there too, but hid in a neighbour's garden. if true, it means that as we filmed, the adults were metres away from us. how were they not found? a translation: the family knew they were coming because - there is a big lcd to which cameras are attached. they were watching everything. he says with no time to grab the kids, the adults simply ran. rasik says the police pressure meant the adults decided to fly back to the uk. sara's siblings were left behind. the trial may be over, but the damage reverberates. five children who lost their sister are still in limbo in pakistan, and a little girl who lost her life. caroline davies, bbc news, sialkot.

ican bring i can bring you a statement from sara's mother, augar sharif, which is paying a tribute to her daughter. who died at the age of ten. she says, i asked god to please take care of my little girl. she was taken too soon. sara had beautiful brown eyes and an angelic voice, she her smile can brighten up every room. everyone who knew sara will know her unique character, her beautiful smile and loud laugh. she was always be in my louw our hearts. her laughter brought warmth to our lives. we miss her very much, we love you, princess. so that is a tribute from sara's mother, augar sharif, to her daughter, sara sharif, who was killed at the age of ten. sara sharif was not living with her mother. she was living with her father and stepmother when she lost her life. those guilty verdicts coming in today in that murder trialfor

coming in today in that murder trial for sara coming in today in that murder trialfor sara sharif. we know that sara used to love to sing and want to perform on x factor, according to people within her school. so sara sharif, that tribute from her mother, augar sharif. of course, we have a live page as well, which is where we will keep you up—to—date with reflections on the death of this ten—year—old girl. now to another big story today. saudi arabia is expected to be confirmed as host of the 2034 men s world cup in the next few minutes. the kingdom was the only bidder for the tournament, but there's been criticism about a lack of clarity over the process, and the choice has been fiercely criticised by human rights groups and environmental campaigners. we'd been expecting this confirmation, i say imminently because we have been waiting for a while. let's speak to our bbc sport presenter olly foster. just where are we with this? we have been expecting it for about a0 minutes now.

have been expecting it for about 40 minutes now. yes, we are about _ about 40 minutes now. yes, we are about half _ about 40 minutes now. yes, we are about half an _ about 40 minutes now. yes, we are about half an hour _ about 40 minutes now. yes, we are about half an hour late, - about 40 minutes now. yes, we are about half an hour late, by l are about half an hour late, by our reckoning, slightly complicated by the fact they are dealing with the business for the 2030 world cup first, which is a joint bid between morocco, spain and portugal. they have just got to that. as you can see, there is quite a glossy promotional video, louise figaro, the portuguese host, involved in that, but before that what they have done is separated the 2030 bridge, but they are going to have the three opening games in south america, but that is being treated as a separate bid. there are reasons for fifa doing that, it means south america get to have their official world cup, even though it is a tiny part of the main world cup, which is taking part in morocco, spain and portugal, but we had to go through their

glossy video and all the heads of their football federation as well, so we are running behind. so we are expecting the acclamation, the confirmation of saudi arabia as the world cup hosts in 203a probably in the next 15—20 minutes, but of course we are going to hear from a more interviews from the saudi arabian football association, there federation and, no doubt, another glossy video. but you are right, it is a highly contentious decision to award back to saudi arabia. the whole process behind it, how it has seemingly been engineered by ruling out the other continents because of the continental rotation policy. so south america getting those three matches rules them out for another 12 years. europe and africa are in morocco, spain and portugal getting the 2030. and also the fact that we have had one in europe quite recently and qatar itself in 2022. so 203a it will be because oceana couldn't get their act together, because oceana couldn't get theiract together, meaning because oceana couldn't get their act together, meaning new zealand and australia, they were given such short notice to try to get a bit together for

203a, so saudi arabia are unopposed and we are expecting this vote, as fifa have called it, during this extraordinary congress over the last a5 minutes or so. it is going to be more than acclamation. there will be a couple of dissenting nations, notably the norwegian federation, who have said this whole process is flawed because of transparency and also we expect a lot of outcry, as there has been from various human rights and lower case labour unions as well about the choice of saudi arabia and it's pretty abysmal human rights record, they say, for decades. they say it is going to be a moment of great danger, accusing wieffer of discarding its own human rights policies and calling them effectively a sham by choosing saudi arabia for 203a. sham by choosing saudi arabia for 2034. , ., ., ., for 2034. yes, we are going to be picking _ for 2034. yes, we are going to be picking up _ for 2034. yes, we are going to be picking up on _ for 2034. yes, we are going to be picking up on those - for 2034. yes, we are going to be picking up on those points i be picking up on those points you make a little late in the programme, but for the time being, olly foster, our bbc

sports presenter, thank you very much. you can see the qr code is on the screen, where we will be live streaming that as well. but of course we are still waiting for saudi arabia to be confirmed. lots of glossy videos are being played at the moment, so you can imagine it is taking a little bit longer, as olly foster was saying, but you can watch that our livestreaming page and also we have a live page as well and the moment that does actually do get confirmed, we'll bring that to you. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

thanks for being with us on bbc news. in syria's capital damascus, the interim prime minister, mohamad al—bashir, has called on syrians abroad to return home. he said he wants to provide stability and calm. it comes as fighters have set fire to the tomb of syria's former president, hafez al—assad, father of the overthrown bashar.

this is in the town of qardaha in the north—west of syria, home of the assad family mausoleum. rebel forces say they've taken control of the oil—rich eastern city of dair uh zor. a senior commander of the islamist group hts says it captured the city after us—backed kurdish fighters withdrew. meanwhile, israel says it has carried out hundreds of air strikes and hit strategic weapons stockpiles in syria to stop them falling into the hands ofjihadists. the un's called for an end to the attacks that have taken place since rebel factions overthrew the government of bashar al—assad on saturday. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet who is in damascus. yes, in day three of this new order is drawing to a close and as you have been hearing in the news, these are still heady times with emotions still

running high, with rebel fighters still trying to pull down all the symbols of the old regime is now going to the coastal heartland