A woman is held for two days by the man who pretended to love her, tortured, raped and then beheaded by him – because she turned down his marriage proposal. The assassination of Noor Mukadam shook Pakistan last July. There is a sad tradition of femicide there. Not only the particular brutality of the case ensured that women’s rights groups across the country took to the streets. Above all, the case was undoubtedly documented by cameras.
Victims and perpetrators come from Islamabad’s high society. Noor Mukadam’s father is a former diplomat, the perpetrator’s father is a wealthy industrialist. The perpetrator’s parents’ house, where the murder took place, is monitored by video cameras. In this way, the investigators were able to understand afterwards that the woman had tried to flee several times.
Once over the course of two days, she jumped out of the first floor window, but was caught in the garden of the house and dragged inside. It was also determined that two employees were still present. Neither the security man nor the gardener did anything to help the woman. They had even prevented her from leaving the villa.
The perpetrator was sentenced to death
The perpetrator, Zahir Jaffer, 30, was sentenced to death by hanging on Thursday. His parents, charged in connection with the murder cover-up, were acquitted. The gardener and the security guard were each sentenced to ten years in prison for being an accessory.
Noor Mukadam’s father, Shaukat Ali Mukadam, told reporters outside the courtroom, “Today my daughter’s soul will be satisfied to some extent. As for the main defendant, we are happy.” He wants to go back to court against Jaffer’s parents. Efforts by the wealthy family to protect the son from a conviction had caused further outrage. Zahir Jaffer himself had tried to pretend to be insane in court.
Shaukat Ali Mukadam also thanked members of the media for keeping the case in the spotlight. Convictions for so-called honor killings are extremely rare in Pakistan. Although there is no reliable data, the United Nations estimates that the conviction rate is between 1 and 2.5 percent – many victims prefer to remain silent.
About 1,000 women are killed in honor killings in Pakistan every year
In a recent report, Human Rights Watch pointed out that around 1,000 women are killed in honor killings in Pakistan each year. “Violence against women and girls – including rape, murder, acid attacks, domestic violence and forced marriage – is widespread in Pakistan.” Noor Mukadam, 27 at the time of her murder, and her killer belonged to Islamabad’s young, educated elite. However, this did not help the woman when she rejected his marriage proposal.
After details of the crime became public, the groups “#EndFemicide” and “#JusticeForNoor” emerged on Twitter and vigils were held. Many women dared to report cases of domestic and sexual violence. The deed made it clear: If it can happen even in the highest social class, then poor women are completely at the mercy of their offended husbands.
The courts in Pakistan are not always a help. Just a week ago, influencer Qandeel Baloch’s brother was acquitted of the remainder of his life sentence after just six years in prison. He had confessed to the murder of his sister, arguing that she had shamed the family by posing freely on social media. His family had applied for pardon. According to the new verdict, the mother was very happy to have her son back, “even though we are still mourning the loss of our daughter”.