MM News

ISLAMABAD: Zahir Jaffer has appealed the top court against his death sentence, arguing that the trial and high court’s decisions were based on an “erroneous appreciation of the evidence” and that they failed to recognize the First Information Report’s (FIR) fundamental deficiencies.

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.

Jaffer was given the death penalty by an Islamabad court on February 24, 2022 for killing Noor Mukadam. In addition, the court declared Jaffer guilty of rape and sentenced him to 25 years of hard labour and a Rs200,000 fine.

On March 14, a division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) affirmed Jaffar’s death sentence and changed the term of his life imprisonment to death.

The convict has now filed an appeal against the IHC order through Salman Safdar advocate, contending that the petitioner and his family are aggrieved with the media trial and the constant pressure “that was visibly present during the investigation stage” and subsequently continued during Jaffer’s trial.

“On the flimsiest of charges, innocent people including old parents were prosecuted with Malafide intent. The social media hype clearly resulted in miscarriage of justice as the appellant’s trial was conducted in clear violation of Article 10 A of the Constitution which guarantees fair trial.

“The petitioner is in particular aggrieved with the erroneous conviction and excessively harsh punishment. The trial court had acquitted (08) disbelieving the prosecution’s evidence.