The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday upheld the death sentence awarded to Zaheer Jafar by the trial court in the Noor Muqaddam murder case and commuted his life imprisonment to death.
A two-judge divisional bench comprising Chief Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Sardar Ijaz Ishaq Khan delivered the verdict, which was reserved on appeals filed on December 21 against the conviction of the perpetrators of the brutal murder and the acquittal of the co-accused. of a 27-year-old woman.
The court’s decision to impose a double death sentence came after Jafar was convicted of the rape and murder of Noor. Earlier, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison with hard labor and a fine of Rs 0.2 million for rape.
The IHC had reserved its verdict in the high-profile murder case on December 21 last year in which main accused Jafar was sentenced to death after a trial that lasted more than four months.
The trial court last February sentenced Jafar to death, while the two accused, Jan Muhammad and Muhammad Iftikhar – who was the gardener and security guard of Jafar’s house – were sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The other accused in the case, including Jafar’s parents, Zakir Jafar and Ismat Adamji, all employees of Therapy Works, were acquitted by the court.
The convict was also sentenced to 25 years imprisonment with hard labor and a fine of Rs 0.2 million. Jaafar was also sentenced to 10 years in prison for kidnapping and an additional one year for unlawful imprisonment of the victim.
Before reserving judgment on the case, the court remarked that the lawyers for the parties have been given seven days to file additional arguments on the petitions.
The judgment was reserved after hearing the arguments of the parties in separate petitions against the death sentence awarded to Jafar and the acquittal of the convicts and accused.
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Twenty-seven-year-old Noor was found dead on July 20, 2021, at the residence of prime accused Jafar in Islamabad’s upscale Sector F-7/4.
The gruesome murder sent shock waves across the country and sparked nationwide outrage and calls for justice for Noor, leading to the successful trial and eventual conviction of her killer.
After Noor’s father – former Pakistani ambassador Shaukat Ali Moghadam – filed a First Information Report (FIR) under Section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), Zahir was charged with murder weapons and Arrested with bloody clothes. Crime scene on the day of the murder.
According to Noor’s father, Zahir killed Noor with a sharp instrument and cut off his head.
As the police dig deeper into the investigation, Zahir’s parents are found to be involved in concealing evidence and aiding their son in the crime. Both Zahir’s mother and father were arrested on 25 July 2021.
However, the couple later got bail on separate occasions as they approached higher courts seeking bail.
Apart from this, six employees of Therapy Works, a well-known therapy and drug rehabilitation center in Islamabad, were also arrested.
The organization came under scrutiny when it was revealed that Zahir Jafar himself was associated with Therapy Works.
Moreover, Zahir was sent to judicial and physical remand several times for interrogation before the trial began.
The trial of this brutal murder lasted for four months and eight days. The trial court finally delivered its verdict in the high-profile case on February 24 after several twists and turns.
