ISLAMABAD: Shaukat Mukadam, the father of 27-year-old Noor Mukadam who was murdered in Islamabad last year, filed appeals in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday against the acquittal of nine people accused in the case, Pakistani media widely reported.
Last month, a Pakistani court sentenced to death Pakistani-American Zahir Jaffer, a childhood friend of Mukadam, for beheading her in a murder that sparked public outrage and grabbed media attention unlike any other recent crime against women in Pakistan.
Zahir Jaffer’s parents, Zakir Jaffer and Asmat Adamjee, a cook at the family's home, and six employees of Therapy Works, a counseling center from where Jaffer had received certification as a therapist and where he was being treated at the time of. the murder, were acquitted by the court. The counselling centre employees were present at the scene of the crime, Jaffer's house, when police arrived, having been called there by his parents reportedly to restrain him.
Lawyer Shah Khawar filed the appeals against the nine acquittals in the Islamabad High Court on behalf of Shaukat Mukadam.
“Digital evidence is available against the nine accused and their acquittal was against the law,” he said in the appeal. “The accused should be punished in accordance with the law.”
Earlier this week, Shaukat Mukadam also filed an appeal seeking an increase in the sentence for Jaffer and two members of his household staff, Iftikhar and Jan Mohammad, who got ten years in jail each.
“Noor's father Shaukat Mukadam has filed appeals in IHC to increase the sentence of the convict Zahir Jaffer in section 376 P.P.C [regarding rape] and to increase the sentences of the other two convicts Jan Mohammad and Iftikhar (domestic staff),” the Justice for Noor Twitter account, run by the victim’s friends, said.
Last month the trial court also sentenced Jaffer to 25 years imprisonment with a fine of Rs200,000 for rape, ten years in jail with a Rs100,000 fine for abduction and a one-year jail term for keeping Mukadam in illegal confinement.
Hundreds of women are killed in Pakistan every year, with thousands more suffering brutal violence across the country. But few cases receive sustained media attention, and only a small fraction of perpetrators are ever punished.
But Mukadam’s shocking murder, involving members of the privileged elite of Pakistani society, triggered an explosive reaction from women’s rights activists reckoning with pervasive violence. It also increased pressure for a swift conclusion of the trial, in a country known to have a sluggish justice system, where cases typically drag on for years.
The lengthy trial in the Mukadam murder case also saw many twists and turns, as Jaffer’s lawyers used difference legal arguments to fight his case.
They initially argued that he was not mentally fit to stand trial and asked the court to form a commission to ascertain if he was mentally stable. Jail doctors filed a detailed report in the court, declaring Jaffer physically and mentally fit to stand trial. He never challenged the report.
The court rejected the mental health plea, which was filed after Jaffer was expelled from the court at least twice for disrupting trial hearings in which witnesses were being cross-examined.
On one occasion, police officers had to forcefully carry Jaffer out of the courtroom building after he used indecent language and misbehaved with the judge. Islamabad police later also registered a criminal case against Jaffer for using “abusive language” and attempting suicide on the court premises.
At another hearing, police officials carried Jaffer into the courtroom on a wheelchair and once on a stretcher.
