The Islamabad High Court (IHC) upheld the death sentence of Zahir Jaffer, the convicted murderer in the Noor Mukaddam murder case.

The IHC also converted Zahir Jaffer’s 25-year imprisonment sentence with hard labour and an Rs0.2 million fine also into a death sentence for rape.

IHC’s two-member division bench comprising IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Sardar Ijaz Ishaq Khan announced the verdict which was earlier reserved on Dec 21, 2022.

The IHC also dismissed the pleas of Mohammad Iftikhar and Mohammad Jan, both coaccused in the murder case — who had challenged the trial court’s verdict.

Zahir Jaffer and his two domestic staff Mohammad Iftikhar and Mohammad Jan had challenged their conviction handed to them by the trial court.

On February 24, 2022, a sessions court in Islamabad handed down the death penalty to Zahir Jaffer for the murder of Noor Mukaddam while his employees, watchman Muhammad Iftikhar and gardener Muhammad Jan, were sentenced to 10 years in prison for abetting in the crime.

‘Justice delayed, but justice delivered’: Twitter hails IHC’s decision

Noor Mukaddam was found brutally murdered in Islamabad’s upscale F-7/4 sector on July 20, 2021.