A Pakistani court yesterday sentenced the scion of a wealthy industrialist family to death for raping and beheading his girlfriend in a murder that sparked an outcry over the brutalizing of women in the deeply patriarchal nation.
Pakistani-American Zahir Jaffer, 30, attacked Noor Mukadam at his Islamabad home in July last year after she refused his marriage proposal — torturing her with a knuckleduster and using a “sharp-edged weapon” to behead her.
Mukadam, the 27-year-old daughter of a former ambassador, had made repeated attempts to escape the sprawling mansion, but was blocked by two staff members.
“The main accused has been awarded the death sentence,” Islamabad District Court Judge Atta Rabbani said.
Jaffer’s parents, Zakir Jaffer and Asmat Adamjee, were found not guilty of attempting to cover up the crime.
The two staff members were sentenced to 10 years in prison for abetting murder.
“I am happy that justice has been served,” said Shuakat Mukadam, Noor’s father, while pledging to challenge the acquittal of Zahir Jaffer’s parents.
The case prompted an explosive reaction from women’s rights campaigners reckoning with the pervasion of violence against women.
The shocking 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.
According to the Asma Jahangir Legal Aid Cell, a group providing legal assistance to vulnerable women, the conviction rate for cases of violence against women is lower than 3 percent.
Victims of sexual and domestic abuse are often too afraid to speak out, and criminal complaints are frequently not investigated seriously.
Zahir Jaffer, who would be able to challenge yesterday’s verdict, was thrown out of court several times during the trial for his behavior.
He was frequently carried into proceedings by stretcher or wheelchair, and his lawyers argued he should be found not “mentally sound” — a maneuver prosecutors said was designed to suspend the trial.
At one hearing he claimed someone else had killed Noor Mukadam during a “drug party” at his house.
When questioning Shuakat Mukadam — a former ambassador to South Korea and Kazakhstan — Zahir Jaffer’s lawyer implied she was killed by her own family for conducting a relationship outside of marriage.
Prosecutions for violence and sexual assault frequently see the female victim’s personal history picked over according to Pakistan’s patriarchal mores — another reason why justice is rare for women.
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