ISLAMABAD: A sessions court sentenced the scion of a wealthy industrialist family to death Thursday, for raping and beheading his girlfriend in a murder that sparked an outcry over the brutalising of women in the deeply patriarchal nation.<\/p>\n
Pakistani-American Zahir Jaffer, 30, attacked Noor Mukadam at his Islamabad home in July last year after she refused his marriage proposal \u2014 torturing her with a knuckleduster and using a \u201csharp-edged weapon\u201d to behead her.<\/p>\n
Mukadam, the 27-year-old daughter of a former ambassador, had made repeated attempts to escape the sprawling mansion but was blocked by two members of staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main accused has been awarded the death sentence,\u201d said Justice Atta Rabbani at the Islamabad district court.<\/p>\n
Jaffer\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am happy that justice has been served,\u201d said Shaukat Mukadam, Noor\u2019s father, while pledging to challenge the acquittal of Jaffer\u2019s parents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not my daughter\u2019s case only, but this is a case of the daughters of the entire nation. Today, justice has been served to the women of society. Today\u2019s decision is a victory of justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main accused [Zahir Jaffer] has been given exemplary sentence. The whole nation was with us. Civil society and media supported us a lot,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
A case that shocked the nation<\/strong><\/p>\n The case prompted an explosive reaction from women\u2019s rights campaigners reckoning with the pervasion of violence against women.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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 three per cent.<\/p>\n Victims of sexual and domestic abuse are often too afraid to speak out, and criminal complaints are frequently not investigated seriously.<\/p>\n Jaffer, who will be able to challenge Thursday\u2019s verdict, was thrown out of court several times during the trial for his behaviour.<\/p>\n He was frequently carried into proceedings by stretcher or wheelchair, and his lawyers argued he should be found not \u201cmentally sound\u201d \u2014 a manoeuvre prosecutors said was designed to suspend the trial.<\/p>\n At one hearing he claimed someone else had killed Mukadam during a \u201cdrug party\u201d at his house.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When questioning Mukadam\u2019s father \u2014 a former ambassador to South Korea and Kazakhstan \u2014 Jaffer\u2019s lawyer implied she was killed by her own family for conducting a relationship outside of marriage.<\/p>\n