IHC upholds Zahir Jaffer's death sentence

Jaffer had appealed before the high court after he was found guilty of murdering Noor Mukadam

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday upheld the death sentence for Zahir Jaffer, the convicted murderer in the Noor Mukadam case.

IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Ijaz Ishaq Khan announced the verdict which was previously reserved on December 21, 2022.

The high court also sentenced Jaffer to death in the rape case. The 10-year sentences of the other convicts, Iftikhar and Jan Muhammad, were also upheld.

On July 20, 2021, Noor Mukadam was found brutally murdered in Islamabad's upscale F-7/4 sector Following the discovery of her body, Jaffer was arrested as the prime suspect in the case.

Read Counsel wraps up arguments in Noor murder

A sessions court in Islamabad on February 24, 2022, handed down the death penalty to Zahir Jaffer for the murder of Noor Mukadam while his employees, watchman Muhammad Iftikhar and gardener Muhammad Jan, were sentenced to 10 years in prison for abetting in the act.

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.

The judge issued a short order according to which Zahir was sentenced to death under Section 302(b) (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

However, the death sentence awarded to the convict was subject to confirmation by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).