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Influencer Wife Defends Jailed Husband’s Vile Mid-Air Meltdown

Salman Iftikhar was caught threatening to rape and murder a flight attendant after getting drunk in first class.

An influencer has claimed her jailed executive husband was going through a mental health episode when he was caught on camera threatening to rape a flight attendant. Salman Iftikhar, founder of recruitment firm Staffing Match, was sentenced to 15 months in prison this week after he became drunk and disruptive on a flight from London to Lahore, Pakistan, and started threatening flight attendants with physical and sexual violence. “Don’t tell me what to do, you racist f---ing bitch. I know where you are from in Cardiff. The floor of your hotel will be blown up and it will disappear,” he told a female flight attendant, adding, “You will be dragged by your hair from your room and gang-raped and set on fire.” Following his sentencing, his wife, Abeer Rizv, a model in Pakistan, posted a message to her Instagram Story that read: “Mental health is not a joke. Behind every story, there’s pain you don’t see.” Following his arrest in 2023, Iftikhar’s company went bankrupt after amassing $22.8 million in debt. His victim told the court she had been left traumatized by the experience, which had “broken” her.