Supreme Court adjourns Zahir Jaffer appeal hearing till May 19

• Three-member bench hears high-profile case.
• Defence counsel seeks more time for submissions.
• Next hearing set with full preparation directive.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned the hearing of Zahir Jaffer’s appeal against his death sentence in the Noor Mukadam murder case until 19 May, following consensus from both parties.

A three-member bench, led by Justice Hashim Kakar and comprising Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, heard the high-profile case.

Defence counsel Salman Safdar and prosecution lawyer Shah Khawar were present in court during the proceedings.

Safdar requested a postponement, citing the need to submit additional documents. Justice Kakar, however, expressed displeasure over delays, remarking: “Why should we grant an adjournment if you’re already present in court?”

The judge further criticised unnecessary delays in the judicial system, saying: “In our court, a case is only delayed if the judge or a lawyer dies.” He questioned the consequences of overturning a sentence after someone had spent 20 years on death row, asking what a freed convict might think in such a scenario.

“Our fault lies in entertaining unnecessary adjournments — not the system’s,” Justice Kakar remarked sharply. “If a convicted man appears before us after being acquitted, he may as well throw the file in our face,” he added.

Despite the defence counsel’s request, the court maintained that a decision would be made once the application was submitted. Justice Najafi also intervened, advising Khawar to formally respond only after the request had been submitted.

The hearing was adjourned until May 19, with instructions to both legal teams to come fully prepared.

The case

Noor, 27, was discovered dead at a private residence in Sector F-7/4, Islamabad, on July 20, 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 Islamabad High Court 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.

Shaukat Mukadam, a former diplomat, had previously held a press conference on Noor’s birth anniversary, urging the apex court to expedite proceedings in the case that has remained pending for over 18 months.