Pakistan’s top court upholds Zahir Jaffer's death sentence in Noor Mukadam case

Pakistan’s top court on Tuesday rejected Zahir Jaffer’s review plea and upheld his death sentence for the 2021 killing of Noor Mukadam, in a case that sparked national outrage and became a flashpoint in the fight against violence toward women.

Rejecting Jaffer’s review petition, the three-member bench -- led by Justice Hashim Kakar and comprising Justices Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Ali Baqar Najafi -- maintained the original verdict of the sessions court.

Pakistani-American Jaffer, the son of a wealthy industrialist, attacked 27-year-old Mukadam at his sprawling Islamabad mansion in 2021 after she refused his marriage proposal -- torturing her with a knuckleduster and using a "sharp-edged weapon" to behead her.

In February 2022, an Islamabad sessions court sentenced him to death and handed him 25 years of rigorous imprisonment for rape, along with a fine of Rs200,000. But his legal team appealed arguing that he was suffering from mental health issues.

In the verdict today, the court reduced the sentences of Jaffer’s servant, Jan Muhammad, and watchman, Iftikhar, saying that the time they have already served is sufficient.

However, while upholding his death sentence for murder, the court commuted Jaffer’s death sentence for rape to life imprisonment and reduced his 10-year abduction sentence to one year.

The hearing

As the proceedings began, the court heard arguments from Jaffer’s lawyer, Advocate Salman Safdar, who claimed the prosecution’s entire case was based on CCTV footage and DVR recordings.

He argued that the evidence must be “beyond a reasonable doubt” to convict his client, and questioned the admissibility of the video evidence, pointing out that the footage had failed to play properly during an earlier hearing at the Islamabad High Court.

Justice Kakar, however, pushed back, saying, “You are objecting to a CCTV video you’ve already accepted.” He noted that the Punjab Forensic Science Laboratory had verified the footage, confirming it had not been tampered with.

“If a person had recorded the video, one could argue it was selectively edited,” Justice Kakar added. “But in this case, there was no human interference as it was captured by a CCTV camera.”

Following Safdar’s arguments, the lawyers for the co-accused -- the watchman Iftikhar and gardener Jan Muhammad -- took the floor. Their counsel argued that the two were sentenced to ten years in prison simply for allegedly preventing the victim, Noor Mukadam, from leaving the house.

“If they hadn’t stopped her, things might have turned out differently,” observed Justice Najafi. However, the defense maintained that their only offense was being present in the house during the incident.

Justice Kakar questioned their actions, saying, “Why did they assume responsibilities beyond what their wages demanded?”

After their lawyer concluded, Noor Mukadam’s family counsel, Shah Khawar, began presenting arguments. Justice Kakar noted that many facts in the case were undisputed.

“One accepted fact is that the victim and accused were living together, which is a kind of relationship common in Europe but not here,” Justice Kakar said, calling it a “tragedy for our society” and saying it went against religion and morality.

He also questioned whether the abduction charge could still stand given that Noor had entered the house willingly.

“Even without the CCTV footage, finding Noor’s body in the accused’s home is enough,” he remarked.

Justice Najafi asked whether Noor’s mobile phone had been recovered. Shah Khawar replied that while call records were available, the phone itself had not been seized.

Following the conclusion of arguments, the court took a brief break before announcing its verdict.

'Victory for all women'

"This is a victory for all the women of Pakistan. It shows that our justice system can deliver justice and should give women more confidence in the legal process," Shafaq Zaidi, a childhood friend of Mukadam, told AFP outside the court.

"This was our last resort, and it's hard to put into words what this outcome means to us."

With additional input from AFP