A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed convict Zahir Jaffer’s review plea in the Noor Mukadam murder case.
Jaffer murdered Noor, 27, at his Islamabad residence in July 2021. A probe, including examination of CCTV footage, found he had tortured her prior to murdering and beheading her. In February 2022, a trial court sentenced Jaffer to death. His appeal against the verdict in the Islamabad High Court was dismissed, as was a previous appeal before the Supreme Court. The convict had then sought a review of the apex court’s ruling upholding his death sentence.
Filed by Advocate Khawaja Haris on behalf of Jaffer under Article 188 of the Constitution, the petition had made the state and Noor’s father, Shaukat Ali Muqadam, the respondents. It had argued that the Supreme Court had not properly addressed the issue of the convict’s alleged “unsoundness of mind or mental capacity,” seeking commutation of the death sentence to life imprisonment.
The review plea also argued that it was “apparent from the record that there is no evidence on the record in proof of this allegation” of rape. In the previous appeal, the Supreme Court had commuted the death sentence on the rape charge to life imprisonment, as ruled by the trial court, but had not acquitted him of the crime. However, it had acquitted him of the 10-year sentence for kidnapping, while sentencing him to a year’s imprisonment for wrongful confinement under Section 342 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The petition claimed Jaffer had schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and was in a severely disturbed psychological state during the crime. It also cited habitual drug abuse as triggering delusional thinking at the time of the murder. In support of its assertions, the legal team presented medical documents, including a 2015 report from a London-based doctor referring to substance abuse and mental health concerns, along with a 2022 medical letter. These records had not been produced during the trial or the initial appeal.
After all arguments were completed, the Supreme Court disposed of the review petition and maintained Jaffer’s death sentence. The convict retains the option to seek a presidential pardon.