Zahir Jaffer who got a death sentence for the murder, rape, and beheading of Noor Mukadam has filed an appeal in Supreme Court (SC) against his sentence, the 24NewsHD TV channel reported on Sunday.
US national of Pakistani origin, Zahir Jaffer contended that the trial and high court could not identify the fundamental flaws in the First Information Report (FIR). In his plea, Zahir’s counsel said that verdicts of the lower court were based on ‘erroneous appreciation of evidence’, adding that the evidence admitted is not admissible under the Evidence Act 1872.
The convict prayed before the country’s apex court for annulment of the death sentence awarded to him by the Islamabad High Court.
On July 20, 2021, Noor Mukadam, daughter of a former bureaucrat Noor Mukadam was found brutally murdered in Islamabad. Following the discovery of her body, Jaffer was arrested as the prime suspect in the case.
The brutal killing of Noor Mukadam shocked the South Asian nation and prompted widespread protests calling for greater rights for women in Pakistani society.
A trial court in Islamabad on February 24, 2022, sentenced Jaffer to death for murdering Noor Mukadam. The court also found Jaffer guilty of rape and handed over 25 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs200,000.
A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on March 14 upheld Jaffar’s death sentence while also converting his life imprisonment into a death sentence.