Murder of Noor Mukadam

Noor Mukadam, a 27-year-old Pakistani-Jordanian woman and the daughter of a former Pakistani diplomat, was killed at a residence in the Sector F-7/4 neighborhood of Islamabad, Pakistan, on 20 July 2021. She had been held at the residence for about two days, tortured, raped, and killed by beheading. Zahir Jaffer, a 27-year-old dual Pakistani-American citizen, was arrested at the scene.

According to a timeline reported by Geo News, Jaffer booked a one-way flight to New York on 7 July 2021 and arranged a taxi to the airport ahead of a 3:50 a.m. flight on 19 July. That evening, Jaffer called Noor, who left her family's home in Islamabad's Naval Anchorage neighborhood at 9:05 p.m. and arrived at Jaffer's residence around 10 p.m. At 2:15 a.m., Jaffer and Noor set out for the airport by taxi, but Jaffer told the driver to turn back because they were running too late, and they returned to his residence at 2:35 a.m. The next morning, Noor's father and mother repeatedly tried to reach her by text, call, and message; at 10:43 a.m. Noor sent her mother a voice recording, her last communication before her death. Jaffer then called Noor's mother and told her Noor was not at his house. Noor tried to escape by jumping from a balcony but was chased by Jaffer and returned to him by a house security guard. She was tortured and killed at the residence between about 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. on 20 July.

A First Information Report was filed against Jaffer under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code, and he was arrested at the scene. Four days later, Jaffer's parents and household staff were arrested on suspicion of complicity and concealing evidence. Police also examined the role of Therapy Works, a counselling center where Jaffer worked. On 15 August 2021, police said fingerprint and DNA evidence confirmed Jaffer's involvement in the killing.

On 24 February 2022, an Islamabad additional sessions court convicted Jaffer of murder, sentencing him to death, and of rape, sentencing him to 25 years' imprisonment, and ordered him to pay Rs. 0.5 million in compensation to Noor's family. Jaffer's watchman, Muhammad Iftikhar, and gardener, Muhammad Jan, were each sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for abetting the crime. The court acquitted Jaffer's parents, Zakir Jaffer and Asmat Adamjee, the family's cook, Jamil, and employees of Therapy Works, finding no evidence against them, and rejected a defense argument that Jaffer should be acquitted on grounds of mental illness.

Noor's father appealed to increase the sentences and to challenge the acquittals, while Jaffer, Iftikhar, and Jan appealed separately for reduced sentences. On 13 March 2023, the Islamabad High Court upheld the original sentences and the acquittals and upgraded Jaffer's sentence for rape to death. Jaffer then appealed to the Supreme Court of Pakistan and appeared before the Court on 19 May 2025. On 20 May 2025, the Supreme Court upheld Jaffer's death sentence for murder, converted his death sentence for rape to life imprisonment, and reduced his existing 10-year sentence for abduction to one year. The Court also ruled that Iftikhar and Jan had served sufficient time and should be released, and upheld the compensation order.

The killing drew widespread condemnation in Pakistan and renewed public attention to violence against women, including the hashtag #JusticeForNoor on social media and vigils held by Pakistani communities abroad. Jaffer's father's family and his mother's family each issued statements condemning the killing and voicing support for the legal process. The U.S. embassy in Islamabad said that, as an American citizen arrested abroad, Jaffer remained subject to Pakistani law.