- The presidency will be presided over by a three-member bench headed by Justice Hashim Kakar.
- Noor was tortured and murdered in July 2021, sparking outrage across the country.
- 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 murdering and beheading 27-year-old Noor Mukadam, in a case that shook the nation and sparked a debate about violence against women.
A three-member bench headed by Justice Hashim Kakar, with Justices Salahuddin and Ishtiaq Ibrahim, will take up the appeal on April 8.
Noor, daughter of a former diplomat, was found dead in Islamabad in July 2021.
Investigations revealed that she had been tortured before being murdered, 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 jail term on rape charges into a second death sentence. On May 20, 2025, the Supreme Court confirmed his death sentence.
Judge Kakar announced a short sentence, upholding the trial court’s rulings on the rape charges and converting Jaffer’s 25-year sentence to life in prison.
The court also upheld the order for compensation to Noor’s family, while commuting the sentences of Jaffer’s gardener and watchman Jan Mohammad and Iftikhar, noting that they had served sufficient 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 at the scene of the crime and an FIR was lodged by the victim’s father later in the day.
According to the original FIR, Noor’s father reported that she had been “beheaded after being murdered with a sharp weapon” in a gruesome act that shocked the nation.
In February 2022, a district and sessions court sentenced Jaffer to death, in addition to a 25-year prison term with hard labor and a fine of Rs 200,000, concluding the trial that lasted more than four months.
In addition to the main defendant, two members of his domestic staff, Iftikhar and Jameel, were sentenced to 10 years in prison each, 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 upgraded his 25-year sentence to an additional death sentence, in appeals filed against the punishment awarded to the convicts.
Subsequently, in April last year, an appeal against the IHC verdict was filed before the Supreme Court. In May 2025, the Supreme Court upheld Zahir’s death sentence for Noor’s murder.
