SC hearing on Zahir Jaffer’s death sentence appeal in Noor Mukadam case set for May 13

The Supreme Court of Pakistan is set to hear the appeal against Zahir Jaffer’s death sentence in the Noor Mukadam murder case on May 13, according to its latest cause list, it emerged on Sunday.

Noor, 27, was found murdered at a residence in Islamabad’s upscale Sector F-7/4 on July 20, 2021. A first information report (FIR) was registered later the same day against Zahir Jaffer, who was arrested from the site of the murder.

In February 2022, a district and sessions judge convicted Jaffer of murdering Mukadam, handing him the death penalty along with 25 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs200,000. His household staff, Iftikhar and Jameel — co-accused in the case — were each sentenced to 10 years in prison, while all other suspects, including Jaffer’s parents and TherapyWorks employees, were acquitted.

According to the cause list available on the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s website, “the hearing on the appeal against Jaffer’s death sentence will be held on May 13.”

Justice Hashim Kakar will head a three-member bench, comprising Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, that will hear the case.

Noor’s father, Shaukat Muqaddam’s appeal against the acquittal of Jaffer’s father, Zakir Jaffer, is also set for hearing.

The appeals of the convicted co-accused in the case will also be heard.

According to the FIR registered by her father at the time of the murder, he had discovered that his daughter had been “brutally murdered with a sharp-edged weapon and beheaded”.

In March 2023, the Islamabad High Court upheld the death sentence for Jaffer and also converted his 25-year jail term into another death penalty.

In April 2023, an appeal in the Supreme Court was filed against the IHC decision to uphold the death sentence.

Last year, Noor’s father had urged the SC to take up the murder case pending for more than one and a half years in the top court.

Mukadam, a former diplomat, had addressed a press conference to mark the birth anniversary of his slain daughter and demanded swift justice from the top court.