SC rejects Zahir Jaffer’s review petition, upholds death sentence in Noor Mukadam case

• Advocate Khawaja Haris represents Zahir as his counsel.
• Three-member bench led by Justice Hashim Kakar hears case.
• Noor was tortured, killed in July 2021, sparking nationwide outrage.

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a review petition filed by Zahir Jaffer and upheld its earlier judgment maintaining his death sentence in the high-profile Noor Mukadam murder case.

A three-member SC bench comprising Justice Hashim Khan Kakar, Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim heard the review petition.

The high-profile case had garnered public attention back in 2021 when Jaffer brutally assaulted and murdered Mukaddam, the daughter of a former ambassador.

Mukadam had made repeated attempts to escape the night she was killed, but was blocked by two members of Jaffer’s household staff.

The killer then resorted to torturing her with a knuckleduster and used a “sharp-edged weapon” to behead her.

Jaffer was sentenced to death by the trial court, a verdict upheld by the Islamabad High Court (IHC), which also converted his jail term for rape charges into a second death sentence.  Zahir had sought a review of the top court’s May 20, 2025 verdict that upheld his death sentence in the Noor Mukadam murder case.

Advocate Khawaja Haris represented Zahir as his counsel, while Shah Khawar appeared on behalf of the respondents.

Both sides presented their arguments during today’s hearing, after which the bench reserved and later announced its verdict.

The case

Noor, 27, was found dead at a private residence in Sector F-7/4, Islamabad, in July 2021. Zahir Jaffer, the primary suspect, was taken into custody at the crime scene, and an FIR was filed by the victim’s father later the same day.

According to the original FIR, Noor’s father reported that she had been “beheaded after being killed with a sharp weapon” in a gruesome act that shocked the nation.

In February 2022, a district and sessions court sentenced Jaffer to death, alongside a 25-year prison term with hard labour and a fine of Rs200,000, concluding the trial that continued for over four months.

Besides the prime accused, two members of his domestic staff, Iftikhar and Jameel, were each handed 10-year prison sentences, while other co-accused — including Jaffer’s parents and several TherapyWorks employees — were acquitted.

In March 2023, the IHC upheld Jaffer’s death sentence and upgraded his 25-year sentence to an additional death penalty, on the appeals filed against the punishment awarded to the convicts.

An appeal challenging the IHC verdict was subsequently filed in the Supreme Court in April last year. In May 2025, the SC upheld the death sentence of Zahir for the murder of Noor.