Zahir Jaffer moves SC against death penalty in Noor Mukadam murder

Contends trial, high courts could not identify flaws in FIR

ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) – Convict in Noor Mukadam murder case Zahir Jaffer has moved the Supreme Court (SC) against the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) verdict upholding his death sentence.

The convict has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court (SC) against his death sentence, contending that the trial and high courts could not identify the flaws in the First Information Report (FIR) and that their verdicts were based on ‘erroneous appreciation of evidence’.

The appeal stated that the petitioner was named in the first information report without revealing the basis or source of information. “The evidence admitted is not admissible under the law of evidence,” it stated, terming it “vague, sketchy and scanty”.

Jaffer, in his plea, mentioned that complainant and Noor’s father Shaukat Ali Mukadam provided insufficient evidence and exercised his influence as a former ambassador to create hype around the case in the media. 

The plea also raised questions over the execution of Noor’s postmortem. The petition also stated that the “postmortem report shows no apparent signs of sexual abuse”. The appeal further said Zahir’s mental and psychological issues were not properly regarded and no thorough investigation was carried out to rule out his mental fitness.

The petition added that the case was prejudiced against Zahir because he could not effectively defend himself or join the criminal investigation.

In the petition, Zahir Jaffer pleaded that the death penalty verdict of the Islamabad High Court should be annulled and the petitioner should be acquitted. Jaffer has been sentenced to a total of 11 years of imprisonment with Rs0.5 million fine.