Noor Mukadam Case: SC upholds Zahir Jaffer's death sentence

ISLAMABAD: The high-profile Noor Mukadam murder case, the Supreme Court of Pakistan upheld the death sentence of the main convicted Zahir Jaffer by dismissing his review petition.  

The judgment was announced by a three-member bench headed by Justice Hashim Kakar after a long hearing.

Earlier, during the hearing, the counsel of Zahir Jaffer, Khawaja Haris, argued that a toxicology test had been conducted on the victim, but no drug test was carried out on the convict.

He alleged that intense media and social media pressure during the trial created a perception that the defence would attempt to portray Zahir Jaffer as a drug addict to save him from conviction, because of which both the prosecution and the trial judge came in pressure and didn’t conduct such a test.

Khawaja Haris sought mitigation of the sentence, maintaining that all relevant facts should have been fully considered before imposing capital punishment.

Justice Hashim Kakar became angry following the arguments of the convicted Zahir Jaffer and remarked that the court neither bases its decisions on media reports nor comes under pressure from social media. He noted that the court has decided this a few days ago in the Sunny Maseeh case.

The court also indicated contradictions in the defence’s position, observing that claims regarding Jaffer’s mental condition at the time of the crime effectively supported the narrative the defence was simultaneously criticizing.

Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim made clear that the trial court had rejected a plea for a medical board, which had not been challenged before the High Court, making the matter final.

After hearing all arguments, the Supreme Court of Pakistan dismissed the review petition and rejected the request for any reduction in the death sentence of convicted Zahir Jaffer.

The 27-year-old daughter of a former diplomat, Noor Mukadam, was tortured, raped, and beheaded by Zahir Jaffer, a man she knew, at his residence in Islamabad in July 2021.

On July 21, 2021 accused Zahir Jaffer was arrested and sent to three-day physical custody. Police have recovered a pistol, knife, and knuckleduster from the scene.

The legal proceedings that followed were closely watched, culminating in the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s landmark decision on May 20, 2025, to uphold Zahir Jaffer’s death sentence for murder.