ISLAMABAD – In what legal observers are hailing as a defining moment for country’s federal prosecution service, the Federal Criminal Prosecution Service (FCPS) has successfully sustained the conviction of Zahir Jaffer in the Noor Muqaddam murder case through all four tiers of the Pakistan’s judicial hierarchy – culminating in the Supreme Court (SC) upholding the death sentence on May 20, 2025.
The case, which sent shockwaves across Pakistan following the brutal murder of 27-year-old Noor Muqaddam, daughter of former diplomat Shaukat Muqaddam in Islamabad’s F-7/4 Sector on July 20, 2021, placed the nascent federal prosecution department under intense public scrutiny from its very outset.
Trial in Record Time
The Prosecution Department for Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), established only a few months prior to the crime, took on this nationally sensitive case and concluded the trial within a remarkably compressed period of four months. On February 24, 2022, the trial court convicted Zahir Jaffer and sentenced him to death — a verdict the FCPS prosecution team secured through a meticulous and unimpeachable chain of evidence, including CCTV footage subsequently affirmed as legally credible by the Supreme Court itself.
Four Phases of Adjudication
February 24, 2022 – Trial Court – Sessions court Islamabad convicts Zahir Jaffer and awarded death penalty for murder, along with 25 years rigorous imprisonment and fine for rape.
March 13, 2023 – Islamabad High Court – IHC upholds death sentence for murder and enhanced 25-year imprisonment for rape to a second death sentence.
May 20, 2025 – Supreme Court – Three-member SC bench dismisses all appeals, upholds death sentence for murder, and restores life imprisonment for rape – affirming CCTV evidence as primary proof even in the absence of eyewitnesses.
Post-Verdict – Review Petition
Supreme Court outrightly rejects insanity plea raised through a review petition, ruling the ground baseless as the convict failed to substantiate his claim.
Federal Prosecutor General Ghulam Sarwar Nihung rendered able assistance before the Supreme Court during the final appellate stage, contributing to the dismissal of Zahir Jaffer’s appeal. The rejection of the subsequent insanity-based review petition further cemented the finality of the conviction, leaving no surviving legal remedy for the condemned.
Prosecutorial Determination
Throughout all four phases of litigation – from trial court proceedings to the apex court’s final adjudication – the federal prosecution team demonstrated a consistent sense of ownership over the case, maintaining the integrity of evidence and resisting considerable pressure in what was one of Pakistan’s most publicly watched criminal matters.
We believe that the justice achieved in the Noor Muqaddam case, through the efforts of the Federal Prosecution and all stakeholders, sets an exemplary general deterrence for all cases to come. Federal Criminal Prosecution Service, official statement
Legal Precedent
The top court’s ruling carries significant jurisprudential weight beyond the case itself. By affirming that authenticated video evidence constitutes primary proof even where no eyewitnesses are available, the apex court has reshaped the evidentiary landscape for future criminal prosecutions in Pakistan – a development legal experts view as a landmark contribution to the country’s criminal jurisprudence. The FCPS, in its official communication, also commended Islamabad Police for their investigative role and expressed gratitude to the people of Pakistan whose sustained public attention and prayers accompanied the pursuit of justice across four years of litigation.
