Court orders FIA to probe Noor murder leaked video

Trial court dismisses defendant’s plea seeking provision of complete CCTV footage of incident

ISLAMABAD:

Additional Sessions Judge Ata Rabbani has ordered the Federal Investigation Agency to investigate the viral video of Noor Muqqadam murder and submit a report to the court.

The trial court issued the directives on a plea of the plaintiff, Shaukat Muqqdam, who had sought to ascertain how the murder video went viral.

The court announced the verdict reserved earlier after the completion of arguments from both sides.

The trial court also dismissed the plea of the accused, Asmat Adamjee, who had requested the court to issue directives to provide her with the full CCTV footage of the murder incident.

The trial court said that as per the Islamabad High Court's order, parts of the CCTV footage related to the case have been provided to the accused.

The court also approved the prosecution plea seeking to include names of two more witnesses, Dr Anam and Dr Hamad and summoning them to testify in the case. The names of the two witnesses were not included in the previous list of witnesses. Lawyers of the accused opposed the prosecution plea but the court allowed the prosecution’s plea and summoned the two new witnesses to testify at the next hearing.

Earlier, the lawyer of the Therapy Works chief executive officer pleaded with the trial court to impose a ban on the media coverage of the Noor Muqqadam muder case.

Akram Qureshi, the lawyer of Therapy Works CEO Tahir Zahoor, said the court should also direct PEMRA in this regard.

During the hearing, prosecution witness Muhammad Jabir recorded his statement and the defence counsel completed his cross-examination.

Plaintiff Shaukat Muqqadam and Public Prosecutor Hasan Abbas also attended the hearing.

Another lawyer appeared on behalf of prime suspect Zahir Jaffer but he did not sign the power of attorney. The court could now issue an order in this regard as well.

The suspects in the case were brought to the courtroom an hour earlier before the completion of the day’s hearing.

Earlier, the lawyer of suspect Asmat Adamjee, said that they have been provided with only a few clips of the CCTV footage. He cited the verdict of the Islamabad High Court and argued that it was the right of the suspects to get the complete video so that they could defend the case.

Defence counsel Akram Qureshi argued about the viral CCTV footage and said it was an attempt to influence the case. He pleaded with the court to issue an order in this regard. He requested the court to keep the hearing in-camera and place a ban on its media coverage.

After the conclusion of arguments, the court summoned more witnesses to testify at the next hearing on December 1.

The prime suspect’s mother, Asmat Adamjee, chatted for a few minutes with her son Zahir Jeffer in the courtroom. Her lawyer Asad Jamal was also present in the courtroom.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2021.