Latest news with #ZahirZakirJaffer
Arab News
a day ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Zahir Jaffer files petition for Pakistan top court to overturn death sentence for Noor Mukadam murder
ISLAMABAD: Zahir Zakir Jaffer, the man convicted of one of Pakistan's most harrowing femicide cases, has filed a review petition at the Supreme Court to overturn his death sentence for the 2021 beheading of Noor Mukadam. In the petition, filed under Article 188 of the Constitution and seen by Arab News on Wednesday, Jaffer argues that the May 2024 judgment upholding his death sentence contains 'mistakes floating on the surface of the record.' He alleges that the court failed to consider material facts and due process violations that, if reviewed, would prove his innocence. The petition argues that widespread social media coverage had fueled public hostility toward Jaffer during the investigation, trial, and appeals process, undermining his right to a fair trial. It also cites a ruling from another case to suggest that procedural errors occurred because the case was handled in haste. 'The impugned judgment may very graciously be reviewed, recalled and set aside,' the petition states, 'and the petitioner may very graciously be acquitted of the charges or in the alternate, may be ordered to be re-tried afresh.' The Supreme Court had previously declared the evidence against Jaffer 'overwhelming' and found no merit in his insanity defense. But in this final legal challenge, Jaffer's lawyers argue the case involved 'misreading and non-reading of material evidence,' and claim that he was denied a fair trial. Jaffer, a dual Pakistani-American citizen from a wealthy business family, was convicted of torturing and beheading Mukadam, the daughter of a former ambassador, at his Islamabad home in July 2021. The murder triggered national outrage, women-led protests, and rare scrutiny of elite impunity in Pakistan's legal system Jaffer was sentenced to death in February 2022 and lost appeals in the Islamabad High Court and Supreme Court. In its May ruling, the apex court said Jaffer had confined Mukadam for two days, ignored her pleas, and 'beheaded her in a gruesome manner.' 'All the evidence pointed squarely to the petitioner,' the justices wrote, citing testimony from guards, digital records, and Mukadam's attempts to flee the house. The scope of review petitions in Pakistan is extremely narrow and restricted to identifying legal errors, not reassessing facts. Unless the Supreme Court admits the review, Jaffer's last option will be a clemency request to the President of Pakistan, which the Mukadam family has vowed to challenge.
Arab News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Noor Mukadam's murder: Zahir Jaffer to undergo medical evaluation ahead of filing mercy plea
ISLAMABAD: A medical board will evaluate this week Zahir Zakir Jaffer, convicted of the brutal murder of Noor Mukadam, as part of procedural requirements for his mercy petition before Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, a senior jail official said on Monday. Mukadam, the 27-year-old daughter of a former diplomat, was brutally murdered by Jaffer at his Islamabad residence in July 2021, with investigations confirming she was tortured before being beheaded. A trial court sentenced Jaffer to death in 2022, a verdict later upheld by the Islamabad High Court in 2023. In May 2025, the Supreme Court also upheld the death penalty, leaving Jaffer with the only option of seeking a presidential pardon under Article 45 of the Constitution, which allows the president to grant clemency by pardoning, reprieving or commuting a sentence. 'The [medical] board is expected to visit Adiala jail within this week, most likely in the next two to three days, to conduct the medical and psychological evaluation of the prisoner,' Jail Superintendent Abdul Ghafoor Anjum told Arab News. Anjum said he had requested the director of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for the formation of the medical board after being informed by the convict's counsel that he intended to file a mercy petition before the president. 'It is entirely a routine matter as whenever a mercy petition is to be filed for any prisoner, we are required to conduct a medical and psychological examination,' he said, adding the matter was being dealt with strictly in accordance with rules. Officials at Adiala Jail sent two letters, dated July 8 and July 14, to PIMS, requesting the formation of the medical board. 'The appeal of above mentioned Confirmed Condemned Prisoner (Jaffer) was pending at [the] Supreme Court of Pakistan and the same has been dismissed,' read a letter, seen by Arab News. 'Now the mercy petition of [the] subject, cited confirmed condemned prisoner, has to be submitted before the Honourable President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. For that, the medical board and psychiatric board opinion is mandatory,' prison officials said in the letter, requesting PIMS management to schedule Jaffer's examination within the jail premises. PIMS constituted the medical board and named Dr. Shafqat Nawaz from the Psychiatry Department and Dr. Amir Naveed from the Neurology Department as its members, according to documents seen by Arab News. 'Following the board's report, the confirmed condemned prisoner, Jaffer, may proceed to file a mercy petition in accordance with the rules,' Anjum added. Mukadam and Jaffer, son of a wealthy industrialist, were widely believed to have been in a relationship which they had broken off a few months before her murder. Her shocking murder, involving members of the privileged elite of the Pakistani society, triggered an explosive reaction from women's rights activists reckoning with pervasive violence against women in Pakistan. It also mounted pressure for a swift conclusion of the trial in a country known to have a sluggish justice system and where cases typically drag on for years.
