Justice Hashim Kakar observed on Monday that Noor Mukadam was “mercilessly murdered” as the Supreme Court took up accused Zahir Jaffer’s appeal against his death sentence.
Noor, aged 27 years, was found murdered at Zahir’s Islamabad residence in July 2021, with the probe revealing she was tortured before being beheaded. Zahir’s death sentence by the trial court was upheld by the Islamabad High Court (IHC), which had also turned his jail term over rape charges into a second death penalty.
Justice Kakar was leading a three-member bench, which included Justices Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Ali Baqar Najafi.
Barrister Salman Safdar appeared as Zahir’s counsel while Advocate Shah Khawar was present on behalf of Noor’s father, retired diplomat Shaukat Mukadam.
The accused’s lawyer contended that no medical board was formed to assess his client’s mental state. The hearing was adjourned till tomorrow, with both sides’ counsels expected to present their arguments.
During the previous hearing, Safdar had sought more time from the court to submit Zahir’s medical reports, claiming he was “mentally ill” and the lower courts that sentenced his client had “ignored” this aspect.
Justice Kakar had observed that a hearing was adjourned “only on the death of a lawyer or a judge” and regretted “unnecessary delays” in court cases. Safdar’s request for more time was then approved with the consensus of both sides.
The appeals of the convicted co-accused in the case were to be taken up as well. An appeal by Shaukat against the acquittal of Zahir’s father, Zakir Jaffer, is also among the pleas to be heard.
In October 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.
The hearing
At the outset of his arguments, Safdar informed the bench that he has submitted Zahir’s medical history from 2013 until now to the court.
This photo combo shows (L to R) Justices Ishtiaq Ibrahim, Hashim Kakar and Ali Baqar Najafi. — SC website
He detailed the punishments handed over to his client — death sentence on murder, jail term turned into death penalty on rape and concurrent 10 years in prison for kidnapping.
Safdar contended that only the charge of murder was mentioned in the first information report (FIR) initially, while other offences were included 22 days later.
He claimed there was “no evidence” provided that the site of the crime was the suspect’s residence. Police had previously said that samples collected from a knife, used as a murder weapon, and blood stains matched with the victim.
The lawyer detailed that the incident took place at 10pm and the case was registered at 11:30pm that night, before 12:10am, which he said was the stated time of death in Noor’s post-mortem report conducted the next morning.
Safdar further said that Amjad, a Therapy Works employee injured during the incident, was “made a suspect instead of a witness”.
