Pakistan’s top court upholds death penalty for man who beheaded girlfriend

Pakistan’s Supreme Court upheld the death penalty on Tuesday for a man who beheaded his girlfriend in a case which prompted an explosive reaction from women’s rights campaigners.

Pakistani-American Zahir Jaffer, the son of a wealthy industrialist, attacked 27-year-old Noor Mukadam at his sprawling Islamabad mansion in 2021 after she refused his marriage proposal — torturing her with a knuckleduster and using a “sharp-edged weapon” to behead her.

“This is a victory for all the women of Pakistan. It shows that our justice system can deliver justice and should give women more confidence in the legal process,” Shafaq Zaidi, a childhood friend of Mukadam, told AFP outside the court.

“This was our last resort, and it’s hard to put into words what this outcome means to us.”

Legal battles, mental health claims, and overturned convictions

Jaffer, in his early thirties, was convicted of rape and murder in 2022, but his legal team appealed arguing that he was suffering from mental health issues.

Justice Hashim Kakar on Tuesday upheld the death penalty for murder but commuted a death penalty for rape to life imprisonment.

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Executions, however, have rarely been carried out in Pakistan in recent years.

Mukadam, the 27-year-old daughter of a former ambassador, had made repeated attempts to escape the night she was killed, but was blocked by two members of Jaffer’s household staff.

The two staff members were convicted for abetting murder in 2022 but their conviction was overturned on Tuesday and the judge said they could be freed.

Jaffer’s parents, Zakir Jaffer and Asmat Adamjee, were found not guilty of attempting to cover up the crime in 2022.

Deep-rooted sexism in the justice system

The brutal nature of the murder, involving a couple from the privileged elite of Pakistani society, led to pressure for the trial to conclude swiftly in a country where the justice system is notoriously sluggish and cases typically drag on for years.

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According to the Asma Jahangir Legal Aid Cell, a group providing legal assistance to vulnerable women, the conviction rate for cases of violence against them is lower than three percent.

Targets of sexual and domestic abuse are often too afraid to speak out, and criminal complaints frequently not investigated seriously.

While families are often stigmatised if the behaviour of the victim is called into question.

Throughout the trial, judges made demeaning comments about Mukadam for spending time alone with Jaffar when the pair were unmarried, with Justice Kakar on Tuesday adding that it was “against our values”.

‘Exhausting struggle for justice’

Farzana Bari, a women rights activist who attended the hearing, said the comments imply “that the man has some legitimate right to detain her, which is a harmful and regressive notion”.

“Such judicial attitudes contribute to a long and exhausting struggle for justice, often leading victims to lose hope and give up along the way.”

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