Pakistan court sentences man to death over woman’s beheading

By MUNIR AHMED
Associated Press

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani court has sentenced a man from a prominent industrialist family to death after finding him guilty of beheading a childhood friend who had refused to marry him. The ruling Thursday will likely be appealed. Zahir Jaffar’s killing of Noor Mukadam last year shocked the country and drew nationwide condemnation, with the subsequent trial widely covered in the media. The verdict was quickly hailed by civil society groups. The prosecution had alleged that Jaffar, 30, had a long-running friendship with Mukadam, 27, the daughter of a diplomat, but she rejected his romantic advances.