A dual Pakistan-U.S. national and son of one of Pakistan’s richest families was found guilty and sentenced to death Thursday for raping and beheading the daughter of a former diplomat, CNN reported.
The Islamabad district court found that Zahir Jaffer brutally tortured, raped and murdered Noor Mukadam after she rejected his marriage proposal in July 2021, according to First Post. Security camera footage revealed Mukadam attempted to escape Jaffer’s compound twice before being stopped by his staff, according to Al Jazeera. She was dragged by her arm back into the property, where she was tortured with a knuckleduster, raped and beheaded with a “sharp-edged weapon” by Jaffer, AFP reported.
Jaffer’s trial started in October 2021 in Islamabad and lasted four months before Judge Atta Rabbani delivered the verdict. “The main accused has been awarded the death sentence,” the judge said according to FirstPost. Members of Jaffer’s staff received 10 year sentences for abetting the murder, but Jaffer’s parents were acquitted, according to Al Jazeera.
The verdict in the #NoorMukaddam case is unprecedented and will bring solace to the lives of her family. Justice has been served. pic.twitter.com/LOjvWqtnxv
— Mehrene Malik Adam (@AdamMehrene) February 24, 2022
“The death sentence for Zahir Jaffer, this was very necessary,” Mukadam’s father, Shaukat Mukadam, said outside the court, reported Al Jazeera, “I said time and again that this was not a case of my daughter, it is a question of all Pakistan’s daughters.”
“This case is for all the daughters of Pakistan,” he told reporters, according to CNN. “The society and media came to our side, the entire nation and the world was on our side.”
Violence against women and forced marriage is a serious problem in Pakistan, Human Rights Watch noted in their 2021 report. There were at least 430 “honor” killings in the country in 2020, and a further 363 gender-based attacks Al Jazeera reported, using data from Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.