Zahir Jaffer's employee appeals prison sentence

Plea states no evidence to prove charges against Jan Mohammed

ISLAMABAD:

Accused Jan Mohammad, sentenced to 10 years in prison for abetting Zahir Jaffer in the murder of Noor Mukadam, filed an appeal against his sentence on Tuesday.

Jan Mohammad, who served as a gardener in Zahir’s house, filed the petition through counsel Kamran Murtaza, seeking annulment of the trial court’s sentence.

The appeal stated that Jan Mohammad was not accused in the first information report (FIR), rather was accused in the supplementary statement.

It further said that the accused was an employee at the Prime Minister's Secretariat and only worked part-time at Zahir’s house.

It maintained that there was no evidence to prove the charges against him and that the sentence should be quashed.

Read Noor’s parents want early execution of Zahir

On February 24, a sessions court in Islamabad sentenced Zahir’s staff Iftikhar and Mohammad Jan each to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs100,000 for abetting (Section 109), 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs100,000 for confining a kidnapped person (Section 368), one month of simple imprisonment for omitting information from a public servant (Section 176) and seven years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs100,000 for concealing a plan to commit an offence punishable with death or life imprisonment (Section 118).

Primary accused Zahir Jaffer was handed down the death penalty for the murder of Noor Mukadam, however, Additional Sessions Judge Atta Rabbani acquitted his parents, Zakir Jaffer and Ismat Adamjee, as well as other suspects in the case including Therapy Works employees, from the charge of abetment.