siblings

Sara Sharif’s paternal grandfather has been granted guardianship of her siblings by a court in Pakistan.

The decision comes after years of legal limbo following the murder of 10-year-old Sara by her father and stepmother in 2023.

All five children, who are now aged between 16 and four, have been living in Pakistan since 2023. They were asked to speak to the judge in court, where the eldest said they were comfortable and the siblings were settled.

Sara’s grandfather, Muhammed Sharif, told the BBC he was relieved to be granted guardianship after three years of legal battles, saying his hope is that the children “stay healthy” and receive “a good education”.

“It is my responsibility to ensure they get the best possible education and care,” he said.

When told by the judge that the grandfather would become their guardian, the eldest child responded saying “that’s all good”.

The five children have been in Pakistan since August 2023, when they were brought to the country by Sara’s father, stepmother and uncle after Sara was killed.

The family was in hiding for weeks before the children were discovered by police at the grandfather’s house. They were initially put into state childcare.

The adults flew back to the UK and were arrested at the airport. Sara’s father Urfan Sharif and stepmother Beinash Batool were found guilty of Sara’s murder. Sharif was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in prison and Batool received a minimum of 33 years.

Her uncle, Faisal Malik, was found guilty of causing or allowing her death and given a 16-year sentence.

Sara had been hooded, burned and beaten during a “campaign of torture” that lasted two years before her body was found at the family home in Woking, Surrey.

The five Buss siblings who voted to sell the family’s shares of the Lakers filed their formal opposition to team governor Jeanie Buss’ attempts to block the sale on Wednesday, calling Jeanie’s petition “legally and factually baseless” in a statement provided to The Times.

“While discussions among the siblings continue, their focus remains on facilitating the proposed transaction and the Trust’s participation in it, while ensuring that all beneficiaries, including Jeanie, are treated equally,” Jimmy, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse Buss said in the statement.

“Today’s filing is a necessary step to protect those interests and ensure the transaction proceeds on schedule.”

The five siblings voted in August to include the family’s 17.82% of the team in the sale from Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter to Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger. Jeanie immediately opposed her siblings’ vote, saying that the transaction would breach the family trust that states she and her co-trustees Janie and Joey must take reasonably available actions to maintain Jeanie’s role as the controlling governor of the team “on an annual basis during [her] lifetime.”

If the Buss Family Trust sells its remaining shares, Jeanie would be ineligible to serve on the board of governors because the NBA requires governors to own at least 15% of the franchise. Although the Buss family ended its more than 40 years of majority ownership of the team in 2025 by selling to Walter at a then-record $10-billion valuation, Jeanie was to remain the controlling governor for at least five years.

Jeanie and her attorneys filed a petition in L.A. Superior Court about two weeks after her siblings’ vote in which she argued their plan was void.

The siblings’ formal opposition claims Jeanie is attempting to prevent the sale “in order to protect her own personal interests” and her actions “constitute a breach of her fiduciary duties as a trustee.” The siblings believe that with five votes to sell, they have the right to proceed with their plan to sell the shares and distribute the proceeds because they have a two-thirds majority of the living children, as outlined in the trust.

With the latest sale from Walter to Kushner and Iger valued at $12.5 billion, a 17.82% share would be worth approximately $2.2 billion for the Buss siblings.