LAHORE: Zahir Jaffer, the key suspect in last month’s grisly murder of Noor Mukadam, is sharing a cell with two other prisoners and being kept on ‘suicide watch,’ the superintendent of Adiala Jail said on Tuesday, with the Punjab minister for prisons saying the accused murderer was not even being allowed a tooth brush over “suicide fears.”
Mukadam, 27, was found beheaded at a residence in Islamabad’s upscale F-7/4 neighborhood on July 20 in a case that has sparked public outrage and grabbed media attention unlike any other recent crime against women. Zahir, who was arrested on the day of the murder, is on 14-day judicial remand in Adiala Jail in Islamabad’s twin city of Rawalpindi. He will next be presented before a judicial magistrate on August 16.
The gruesome murder has sent shockwaves across the country, stirring outrage over femicides and demands for justice. Many activists and social media users have also raised concerns that Zahir may get a lenient sentence, or special treatment in prison, because of his wealthy background and US nationality.
Earlier this week, reports that Zahir had been taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad after he complained he had a headache led to national outcry, with Punjab Jail Minister Fayyaz ul Hassan Chohan ordering prison authorities to stop with “immediate effect” any preferential treatment for the suspect. 
Adiala Jail Superintendent Arshad Warraich told Arab News Zahir was currently sharing a cell with two other prisoners.
“Prisoners who come in for the murder of their father or mother, they have this tendency [to commit suicide] a lot,” Warriach said in a phone interview on Tuesday. “Or some prisoner who has a social stigma attached to them.”
He gave the example of Pakistani Javed Iqbal, considered one of the world’s worst serial killers, who was sentenced to death in 2000 for murdering and mutilating 100 children, but killed himself in prison in what was widely considered a major travesty of justice. 
“So we have kept three people together so that if someone is about to do something, the others can raise alarm,” the jailer said. 
Just days after Zahir’s arrest, his parents — Zakir Jaffer and Asmat Adamjee — and two members of their household staff were also arrested on July 24 for “hiding evidence and being complicit in the crime.”
Last week, a sessions court dismissed separate bail pleas filed by Zahir’s parents, adding abetment, concealment of evidence and a number of other charges to the case against them. On Monday, a district and sessions court in Islamabad extended till August 23 the judicial remand of the parents and their household staff.
Warriach said the Jaffers were also being held at Adiala jail, in separate cells. The father was sharing a cell with four other prisoners while the mother was being kept in a shared cell in the women’s section of the prison. 
He dismissed reports that the family was getting preferential treatment in jail, saying the case was being watched closely by “so many agencies” that there was no room to break the rules.
“In fact just today [Tuesday], a complaint has been lodged against me with the Home Department by their [Jaffer’s parents] lawyer that they are being treated discriminately … that they are not getting the same facilities as other prisoners,” Warriach said
Rizwan Abbasi, the lawyer for Jaffer’s parents, confirmed filing the complaint: “My clients are not being given their legal right to home food and clothing, even the servants of the Jaffers are not being allowed to see their families. We will move every forum to get them their legal rights.”
Warriach admitted that unlike other prisoners, Zahir and his parents were not allowed to keep any belongings in their cells or receive visitors other than their lawyers. 
“The father requested [he wanted to meet Zahir] but we did not entertain it,” the jailer said. “The mother requested that she wanted to meet her husband, but no.”
When asked about Zahir’s behavior in prison, Warriach said it was “normal, the way spoiled kids are”: “We are preparing a report on his behavior, which we will submit after a month.” 
The jailer said the suspect had reportedly suffered from some signs of drug withdrawal in the first 4-5 days after his arrest, when he was held in police remand, but since being brought to Adiala Jail on August, he was in good health. 
Jail Minister Chohan seconded that the Jaffers were not getting any special treatment in prison. 
Zahir was not allowed to leave his cell, and was eating prison food, mainly rice, lentils and vegetables, Chohan said. He was not allowed to keep any books or allowed a tooth brush due to “suicide fears.”
When asked whether Zahir was allowed a regular change of clothes, the minister said: “Only one shirt and trousers that he is wearing.”