IHC upholds Zahir Jaffer's death penalty.

ISLAMABAD -- The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday upheld the death sentence of Zahir Jaffer in a case pertaining to the murder of Noor Mukadam and also converted his life imprisonment into a death sentence for raping Ms Mukadam.

The court, however, rejected the appeals seeking punishment for Jaffer for abducting Ms Mukadam and those filed against the acquittal of therapy workers. The verdict in the case had been reserved on December 21, 2022, by a two-member division bench comprising IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Sardar Ijaz Ishaq Khan.

As the bench announced the verdict, the father of Ms Mukadam, her sister, and members of civil society were present in the courtroom to witness the proceedings. Justice Farooq confirmed the death sentence awarded to the convict by the sessions court.

The bench also accepted the appeal of Ms Mukadam's father to increase the punishment meted out to Zahir Jaffer for raping Noor Mukadam and converted the life imprisonment into capital punishment.

Converts life term to capital sentence over Noor's rape

The bench also dismissed the appeals seeking the acquittal of domestic servants of Jaffer's security guard Iftikhar Ahmed and gardener Jan Mohammad.

On the other hand, the court rejected the appeals against the acquittal of therapy workers who allegedly concealed the evidence and the body of the deceased. Jaffer had called five Therapyworks employees to his F-7/4 residence - the crime scene. When the workers tried to enter the room, Jaffer got confused and attacked them.

One worker, Amjad Mehmood, was injured and shifted to the hospital. The injured lied to the hospital administration and did not register the incident in the...