A delegation from the United States embassy in Islamabad visited Zahir Jaffer at Adiala Jail on Thursday. The team, comprising Michael Murphy, Naveed Ghazi, and Usama Hanif, was granted consular access to Jaffer, who holds US nationality. The meeting occurred in the office of the jail’s deputy superintendent as part of the consular protocol.
Jail authorities confirmed that the meeting was facilitated for the purpose of consular access to Jaffer, who is also a US citizen. Jaffer had been convicted of the murder of Noor Mukadam at a residence in Islamabad in 2021, receiving a 10-year prison sentence from an Islamabad trial court a year later. Subsequently, in February 2022, a sessions court in the federal capital sentenced him to death for the same crime.
District and Sessions Judge Atta Rabbani delivered the verdict, which also included a 10-year imprisonment for two of Jaffer’s employees, Jamil and Jan Mohammad, while another accused, Tahir Zahoor, was acquitted. Following the sentencing, Jaffer appealed the death sentence to the Islamabad High Court, but his petition was dismissed in April 2023.
He has since filed a plea against his conviction in the Supreme Court.
