Javed Iqbal (serial killer)

{{Infobox serial killer

| name = Javed Iqbal

| image = Javed_Iqbal.jpg

| caption = Iqbal in custody

| birthname = Javed Iqbal Mughal

| alias = Kukri

| birth_date = 1961{{cite news|title=Pakistan 'Serial Killer' Under Interrogation|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/585628.stm|access-date=28 July 2020|work=TBBC News|date=31 December 1999}}{{efn|BBC News lists Iqbal as 38 years old on 31 December 1999, establishing his approximate date of birth as 1961.}}

| birth_place = Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan

| death_date = 8 October 2001 (aged 40){{Cite web|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/717/lahore-javed-iqbal-accomplice-found-dead-in-jail|title=LAHORE: Javed Iqbal, accomplice found dead in jail|date=10 October 2001|newspaper=Dawn|location=Pakistan}}

| death_place = Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan

| cause = Suicide by hanging

| victims = 100

| country = Pakistan

| states =

| beginyear = 1998

| endyear = 1999

| apprehended = 30 December 1999

| conviction = Child sex abuse
Murder (100 counts)

| sentence = Death

}}

Javed Iqbal Mughal"[http://www.dawn.com/news/896/lahore-the-story-of-a-pampered-boy LAHORE: The story of a pampered boy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527214941/http://www.dawn.com/news/896/lahore-the-story-of-a-pampered-boy |date=27 May 2014 }}." Dawn. 11 October 2001. Retrieved on 26 May 2014. (1961 – 8 October 2001) was a Pakistani serial killer and child molester who confessed to the sexual abuse and murder of 100 young boys, ranging in age from 6 to 16. His victims were strangled, dismembered, and then dissolved in acid to destroy any evidence.

Early life

Iqbal was the sixth of eight children of his businessman father. He grew up in Lahore, attending the Government Islamia College as an intermediate student. In 1978, while still a student, he started a steel recasting business. Iqbal lived, along with boys, in a villa that his father had purchased for him in the Alter area of the city."[http://www.indiatvnews.com/crime/news/serial-killer-javed-iqbal-who-sexually-abused-and-killed-2733.html Serial killer Javed Iqbal who sexually abused and killed 100 children in Pakistan]" (). India TV. Updated 26 February 2014. Retrieved on 26 May 2014.

Murders

In December 1999, Iqbal sent a letter to the police and to a chief news editor of a Lahore newspaper, Khawar Naeem Hashmi, in which he confessed to the rape and murder of 100 vulnerable boys, all aged between 6 and 16. He wrote that he had strangled and dismembered the victims, who were mostly runaways or orphans living on the streets of Lahore, after sexually assaulting them, and had then disposed of their bodies using vats of hydrochloric acid that he later emptied into a local river.

Inside Iqbal's house, police and reporters found bloodstains on the walls and floor, the chain with which Iqbal claimed to have strangled the boys, and photographs of many of his victims in plastic bags. These items were neatly labelled, with names and ages on handwritten pamphlets. Two vats of acid with partially dissolved human remains were also left for the police to find, a note claiming that the bodies in the house had deliberately not been disposed of so that authorities would find them.McGraw, Seamus. "A Letter from a Killer." All about Javed Iqbal. ''Crime Library p. {{Cite web|url=http://crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/javed_iqbal/4.html|title=4|access-date=26 May 2014|archive-date=13 June 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030613013139/http://crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/javed_iqbal/4.html|url-status=dead}}().{{Cite web|title=Javed Iqbal {{!}} Pakistani Serial Killer, Arrest & Sentence {{!}} Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Javed-Iqbal|access-date=2023-07-31|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|language=en}}

In his letter, Iqbal stated that, with his crimes completed, he now planned to drown himself in the Ravi River; however, after unsuccessfully dragging said river with nets, police launched the largest manhunt in Pakistani history. Four accomplices, teenage boys who had shared Iqbal's three-bedroom flat, were arrested in Sohawa. Within days, one of them died in police custody, a post-mortem suggesting that force had been used against him; the police said he had jumped of his own accord from a window."[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/553988.stm Police detained after suspect's death] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527220848/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/553988.stm |date=27 May 2014 }}." BBC. Wednesday 8 December 1999.

{{quote box

| quote = "My count has reached 100. He was a handsome 16-year-old Bhutan boy ... he came from Peshawar. With the grace of God, my mission is complete. Tears roll down my cheeks. I will make sure that my mission, and my message reaches the world."

| source = One of the final entries within Iqbal's journal in which he documented his murders.

| width = 30em}}

=Motive=

Iqbal claimed that the motive for committing the murders was his anger over a perceived injustice at the hands of Lahore police: they had arrested him on charges relating to an act of sodomy against a young runaway boy in the 1990s. The victim of this sexual assault had severely bludgeoned Iqbal—predominantly about the head—rendering him unconscious. Though no charges were brought in relation to this offence, Iqbal's mother had "been forced to watch [his] decline" before suffering a fatal heart attack. According to Iqbal's confession, his mother's death after watching his social, economic and symbolic status deteriorate following his attack and arrest had "broken a hell" over him; he therefore resolved to make 100 mothers "suffer and cry" for their sons as his late mother had been forced to for him.{{cite news|date=31 December 1999|title=Pakistan 'Serial Killer' Under Interrogation|work=TBBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/585628.stm|access-date=28 July 2020}}

Trial and sentencing

It was a month before Iqbal turned himself in at the offices of the Daily Jang on 30 December 1999. He was subsequently arrested. He stated that he had surrendered to the newspaper because he feared for his life and was concerned that the police would kill him.

Iqbal was sentenced to death; the judge passed the sentence saying, "You will be strangled to death in front of the parents whose children you killed[;] your body will then be cut into 100 pieces and put in acid, the same way you killed the children." Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider contradicted the sentence by stating that Pakistan is a signatory of the Human Rights Commission, so "such punishments are not allowed".[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/678553.stm Death for Pakistan serial killer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527220725/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/678553.stm |date=27 May 2014 }}. BBC. Thursday 16 March 2000.

Death

On 9 October 2001, Iqbal and an accomplice, Sajid Ahmed, were found dead in their respective cells at the Kot Lakhpat Jail. The pair were officially ruled to have hanged themselves with their own walls. Autopsies revealed that they had been beaten prior to death. Iqbal's body went unclaimed.

In popular culture

A film based on the notorious serial killer titled, Javed Iqbal: The Untold Story of A Serial Killer (2023) follows the trial of Javid Iqbal. Scheduled for release on 28 January 2022, the film faced a ban from the Punjab government and the Central Board of Film Censors. It was removed from cinemas a day prior to its release due to its portrayal of the government and police.{{Cite web|url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/2340844/censor-boards-decision-to-halt-release-of-javed-iqbal-disappoints-pakistanis|title=Decision to halt Javed Iqbal release disappoints Pakistanis|date=28 January 2022}}

After public backlash to the banning and the support of several actors for the film, it was finally released on 2 June 2023.{{Cite web|url=https://images.dawn.com/news/1189075/release-of-yasir-hussain-ayesha-omars-javed-iqbal-the-untold-story-of-a-serial-killer-postponed-till-january|title=Release of Yasir Hussain, Ayesha Omar's Javed Iqbal: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer postponed till January|date=21 December 2021}}

References

Notes

External links

McGraw, Seamus. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030809235912/http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/javed_iqbal/1.html?sect=2 |date=9 August 2003 |title="All About Javed Iqbal" }}. Crime Library.

Category:1961 births

Category:2001 deaths

Category:2001 suicides

Category:Criminals from Lahore

Category:Pakistani people convicted of child sexual abuse

Category:Pakistani people convicted of murder

Category:Pakistani people convicted of rape

Category:Pakistani murderers of children

Category:Pakistani prisoners sentenced to death

Category:Pakistani serial killers

Category:People convicted of murder by Pakistan

Category:Prisoners sentenced to death by Pakistan