[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text dp_text_size=”size-4″]The Islamabad High Court (IHC) maintained the death sentence of the main suspect in the Noor Mukadam murder case, Zahir Jaffer, on Wednesday.
The judgement, which was previously reserved on December 21, was pronounced today by a two-member division bench comprised of IHC President Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Sardar Ijaz Ishaq Khan.
The IHC rejected Zahir’s plea and sentenced him to death twice in its decision today. It commuted Zahir’s 25-year prison sentence to the death penalty.
The court also rejected the appeals of Zahir’s household staff Mohammad Iftikhar and Mohammad Jan, who were both co-accused in the case, against the trial court’s verdict.
On July 20, last year, Noor, 27, was discovered dead at Jaffar’s house in the capital’s posh Sector F-7/4. On the complaint of the victim’s father, retired diplomat Shaukat Mukadam, a first information report (FIR) was registered the same day against Zahir Jaffer — the principal culprit who was arrested from the scene of the murder — under Section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
On February 24, 2022, an Islamabad sessions court condemned Zahir to death and sentenced two co-accused, Mohammad Iftikhar and Jan Mohammad, to ten years in prison.
In October 2021, an Islamabad district and sessions court charged Zahir’s parents, father Zakir Jaffer and mother Asmat Adamji, as well as TherapyWorks personnel, but they were later acquitted by the sessions court after Jaffer was convicted.
Following the decision, Zahir filed an appeal with the International Court of Justice in March 2022, disputing his death sentence.
Read More: Case filed against Imran Khan and others for hiding facts in PTI worker’s death.
Case history
Once a first information report was registered in the case and Zahir was arrested, his parents and household staff were also taken into prison by police on July 24 over charges of “hiding evidence and being involved in the crime”. Based on Noor’s father’s account, they were included in the inquiry.
Shaukat alleged in his complaint that he went to Rawalpindi on July 19 to buy a goat for Eidul Azha, while his wife went out to pick up garments from the tailor. When he returned home in the evening, the couple discovered that their daughter Noor was not at home in Islamabad.
They discovered her mobile number was turned off and began looking for her. According to the FIR, Noor called her parents later to tell them she was going to Lahore with some friends and would be back in a day or two.
The complainant stated that he afterwards received a call from Zahir, whose family they knew. According to the FIR, the suspect informed Shaukat that Noor was not with him.
On July 20, about 10 p.m., the victim’s father received a call from the Kohsar police station notifying him that Noor had been slain.
The complainant was then escorted to Zahir’s house in Sector F-7/4, where he discovered his “daughter had been brutally murdered with a sharp-edged instrument and beheaded,” according to the FIR.
Shaukat, who recognised his daughter’s body, has sought the maximum legal punishment for Zahir’s suspected murder of his daughter.
Afterwards, police stated that Zahir confessed to killing Noor, and that his DNA test and fingerprints also revealed his involvement in the murder.
Six Therapy Works personnel, whose employees had visited the murder site before police arrived, were also named in the case and were indicted alongside six others, including Zahir Jaffer’s parents, in October.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
