- A three-member bench headed by Justice Hashim Kakar will preside.
- Noor was tortured and killed in July 2021, sparking national outrage.
- The Islamabad High Court upheld the murderer’s death sentence and rape conviction.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court will next week hear the review appeal of Zahir Jaffer, convicted of the murder and beheading of 27-year-old Noor Mukadam in a case that shook the nation and sparked a debate on violence against women.
A three-member bench headed by Justice Hashim Kakar, along with Justices Salahuddin and Ishtiaq Ibrahim, will hear the appeal on April 8.
Noor, the daughter of a former diplomat, was found dead in Islamabad in July 2021. The investigation revealed that she had been tortured before being killed, sparking national outrage over gender-based violence and unequal treatment under the law.
Jaffer was sentenced to death by the trial court, a verdict upheld by the Islamabad High Court, which also converted his prison sentence for rape into a second death sentence. On May 20, 2025, the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence.
Judge Kakar issued a brief judgment, upholding the trial court’s rulings on the rape charges and converting Jaffer’s 25-year sentence to life imprisonment. The court also upheld the compensation order for Noor’s family, while commuting the sentences of Jaffer’s gardener and caretaker Jan Mohammad and Iftikhar, noting that they had served enough time in prison.
The case
Noor, 27, was found dead at a private residence in Sector F-7/4, Islamabad, in July 2021. Zahir Jaffer, the main suspect, was arrested from the crime scene and an FIR was lodged by the victim’s father later that day.
According to the original FIR, Noor’s father reported that she was “decapitated after being killed with a sharp weapon” in a horrific act that shocked the nation.
In February 2022, a district and sessions court sentenced Jaffer to death, along with a 25-year prison term with hard labor and a fine of 200,000 rupees, concluding a trial that continued for more than four months.
In addition to the main defendant, two members of his domestic staff, Iftikhar and Jameel, were each sentenced to 10 years in prison, while other co-defendants – including Jaffer’s parents and several TherapyWorks employees – were acquitted.
In March 2023, the Islamabad High Court upheld Jaffer’s death sentence and increased his sentence from 25 years in prison to an additional death sentence, following appeals filed against the sentence given to the convicts.
An appeal challenging the IHC verdict was then filed in the Supreme Court in April last year. In May 2025, the SC upheld Zahir’s death sentence for Noor’s murder.
