Islamabad, Pakistan – A court in Pakistan sentenced and sentenced a man to death. murder, rape and beheading Last year, in the capital, Islamabad, a woman
The case shocked the nation and sparked widespread protests calling for greater rights for women in a country where violence against women has been described as “endemic.”
Judge Mohammed Atta Rabbani found Zahir Jaffer guilty and sentenced to death for murdering Noor Mukadam during the court process on Thursday.
The court also sentenced two of Jaffer’s household staff to 10 years in prison each for abetting the murder and imprisoning Mukadam.
Numerous people accused of abetting were acquitted, including Jaffer’s parents.
Police found the body of 27-year-old Mukadam, with the first police report showing that he was “murdered” at Jaffer’s home in July last year and received other injuries.
In his first complaint to police, the victim’s father, Shaukat Mukadam, said that “his daughter was brutally killed and beheaded by a sharp-edged weapon”.
“The death sentence for Zahir Jaffer, it was very necessary,” Shaukat said outside the Islamabad courtroom. I’ve said over and over that this is not my daughter’s issue, it’s all Pakistan’s girls’ issue.
A crowd filled the area outside the courtroom before the verdict was announced.
the case won national importanceThe social media hashtag #JusticeForNoor was widely used to condemn murders and other acts of violence against women in the South Asian country.
The trial began in October, the following month prosecutors shared gruesome details from CCTV footage of the crime scene showing Noor trying to escape from Jaffer’s home by jumping out of a first-floor window and staggering towards the main door. , where its exit is blocked by a member of the household staff.
Jaffer’s lawyer had argued in his legal defense that the defendant was mentally unstable, but the court ruled in January that a medical board would not be formed to decide on Jaffer’s mental state.
History of violence against women and girls
Rights groups have long condemned Pakistan’s poor record on human rights. women’s rights and ending gender-based violence in the South Asian country, which ranks 130th out of 189 countries on the UN’s gender inequality index.
“Violence against women and girls, including rape, murder, acid attacks, domestic violence and forced marriage, remains a serious problem across Pakistan,” the US-based human rights group Human Rights Watch said in its 2021 annual report.
In 2020, Pakistan’s independent Human Rights Commission (HRCP) recorded at least 430 murders in the name of so-called “honour”, and 363 women were killed in gender-based attacks.
According to this survey data At least 85 percent of Pakistani women from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have “experienced physical and/or sexual violence from a close partner at some point in their lives”, the highest figure worldwide.
2020 England government document Regarding gender-based violence in Pakistan, it describes the practice as “endemic”.
Jaffer’s death sentence is subject to approval by the Islamabad High Court, an appellate court that also has the right to appeal.
The victim’s father, Shaukat, said his family had yet to decide whether they would appeal the acquittal of several suspects.
“I was hoping I would get justice, and thank God we got justice and the real culprit was sentenced to death,” Shaukat said. “As for the rest of the criminals, we’ll see what happens. [in terms of appeals]”