PESHAWAR: The Islamabad district sessions court judge on Thursday sentenced Zahir Jaffer, the main accused in Noor Muqaddam murder case, to death while his parents and all the employees of therapy Works have been acquitted.
District Sessions Judge Ata Rabbani announced the reserved judgment and announced 10 years sentence for the employees of the family for aiding and abetting the crime. The convicts have the right to appeal against a trial court verdict in the High Court.
Read more: Noor Mukadam murder case: Court grants bail to Zahir Jaffer’s mother
Murder cases are not usually decided in Pakistani courts that quickly, but the trial of Noor Muqadam case was completed in record time of four months on the direction of Islamabad High Court (IHC). The convict did not sign the power of attorney for himself, on which the court first appointed State Councilor Shahriar Khan and then lawyer Sikandar Zulqarnain Saleem as State Council.
In his final arguments, lawyer of the victim family Shah Khawar said that there were solid evidence based on DVR, CDR, forensic and DNA in the case against Zahir Jaffer. He had added that the prosecution has proved the case against the accused so the court should grant death sentence to the Zahid Jaffer.
The mother of the convict Ismat Adamji’s lawyer Asad Jamal had argued that there was nothing against his client as the prosecution also could not prove that they were aware of the murder. Lawyers for the six accused, three employees of Zakir Jaffer, had sought acquittal from the court due to lack of evidence.
The 28-year-old Noor Muqaddam was brutally murdered a day before Eid-ul-Adha in Sector F-7, Islamabad last year on 29 July. She was the daughter former ambassador Shaukat Muqaddam.
Police had arrested Zakir Jaffer’s son Zahir Jaffer from the crime spot along with the alleged murder weapon. Initially, the media treated the incident like any other crime in the federal capital but friends of the victim started raising voices on social media and with the passage of time, everyone started talking about the brutal assassination of Noor Muqaddam. The ‘Justice for Light’ remained the top trend on social media and finally the prime minister took notice of the incident.
The parents of Zahir Jaffer were in Karachi for Eid-ul-Adha celebrations at the time of murder but they were arrested by the police July 24 on charges of concealing facts, aiding and abetting crime. On July 26, the Federal interior ministry blacklisted Zahir Jaffer and recommended that all the accused in the case be included in ECL. The names of the accused were put on ECL on August 10 after the approval of the federal cabinet. On October 14, almost a month after the challan was submitted to the court, all the accused were indicted and the trial officially started.
The accused had earlier requested the prosecution to provide details and documents of the evidence before indicting them in the local court of Islamabad and later in the Islamabad High Court. During the trial, the convict used obscene language in the court several times and even quarreled with the policemen in the courtroom.