ISLAMABAD 20 July: Rawalpindi Adiala Jail Superintendent, in a letter to the PIMS Hospital administration, has requested the formation of a medical board to assess Jaffer’s physical and psychological condition.
It seems that preparations are underway for a presidential clemency appeal for Zahir Jaffer, the convict sentenced to death in the Noor Mukadam murder case. Noor Mukadam, 27, was found brutally murdered at Jaffer’s residence in Islamabad on July 20, 2021. The letter has sparked concerns among the public as it is seen as an attempt to build a case for ‘mental instability’ to support the plea for mercy and save the convict.
Jaffer was arrested as the prime suspect in the case, and a trial court on February 24, 2022, sentenced him to death for murder.
READ MORE: Supreme Court Confirms Zahir Jaffar’s Death Sentence in Noor Mukadam Case
The court also found him guilty of rape, handing over 25 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposing a fine of Rs200,000 on him. Later, the IHC not only upheld death sentence but also converted the life imprisonment for rape into death sentence.
It is a mandatory legal prerequisite to form a medical board to assess Jaffer’s physical and psychological condition before the mercy appeal to the President against death his penalty can be submitted.
The Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of the convict, Zahir Jaffer, against the death penalty.
“For the mercy appeal of the convict to be submitted to the President, the opinion of the medical and psychological doctors board is compulsory,” letter reads.
READ MORE: Real Motive Behind Brutal Murder Of Sana Yousuf Revealed
A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Hashim Kakar, also comprising Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, announced the verdict.
The court kept Zahir Jaffer’s death sentence unchanged in the murder case, while commuting his death penalty into life sentence in the rape case and acquitted him from the charge of kidnapping.
The supreme court bench also ordered acquittal of Zahir Jaffer’s watchman and gardener. “The prison term they have gone through, has been their punishment”, the bench observed.
In February 2022, a district and sessions judge convicted Zahir Jaffer of murdering Noor Mukadam, awarding him the death penalty along with 25 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs200,000. His household staff, Iftikhar and Jameel, co-accused in the case, were each sentenced to 10 years in prison, while all other suspects, including Jaffer’s parents and TherapyWorks employees, were acquitted.
