Pakistan, May 19 -- ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court is expected to announce its decision today on Zahir Jaffer's appeal against the Islamabad High Court's (IHC) verdict, which upheld his death sentence in the Noor Mukadam murder case. A three-member bench, headed by Justice Hashim Kakar and including Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, resumed hearing the case earlier today.

During the hearing, Jaffer's lawyer, Salman Safdar, argued that the trial court sentenced his client to death for murder, life imprisonment for rape, and 10 years in jail for abduction. However, the IHC later increased the rape sentence to the death penalty, stating that the trial court had failed to justify giving a lesser punishment for such a serio...