Woman who Accused MP of Rape Found Dead

On Sunday, January 6, the lifeless body of Zahra Navidpour, a 28-year-old woman who had accused an Iranian member of the parliament of raping her, was found at her mother’s home in the East Azarbaijani town of Malekan. She was rushed to the hospital, but was soon pronounced dead. The medical examiner gave no reason for her death, giving rise to speculation that she had committed suicide — or even been murdered.

The MP in question, Salman Khodadadi is a representative from Malekan, the chairman of the parliament’s Social Affairs Committee and a former adviser to Foreign Minister Javad Zarif. He has been accused of raping of at least three other women. Unlike the other victims, Navidpour went public with her ordeal, and her identity is the only one to have been disclosed because of her four-year pursuit of the case.

Navidpour went public with a recording of a phone call between Khodadadi and herself in which the MP can be heard threatening her and also begging her to retract her complaint. She refused, and on October 18, 2018, she wrote a letter to Judge Babaee, the presiding judge at Branch 5 of Tehran’s Criminal Court, informing him of Khodadadi’s persistent threats against her, and of threats against her by others on his behalf. She told the judge that she believed her life was in danger.

When Navidpour lost all hope that neither the parliament’s Disciplinary Board or the Iranian judiciary would act on her complaint, in November 2018, she told her story to the Chicago-based Gunaz TV [Persian video].

From Bookcase to Bed

Zahra Navidpour’s story began when she ran into financial difficulties after the death of her father. She appealed to office of the governor of Malekan to help her find a job. The office contacted Khodadadi, who in turn contacted her and told her to come to his office in Tehran. She travelled to his office in Vali-Asr Square in the capital, where Khodadadi suggested they have sex. Navidpour refused and went to leave the office but found the door locked. According to her, Khodadadi raped her and threatened her, warning her to stay silent.

When describing what happened to her, Navidpour said that Khodadadi had a bookcase in his office that converted into a bed. She said that, in addition to receiving threats from the politician, she was also repeatedly threatened by Masoud Hashempour, Khodadadi’s nephew and the Director General of Legal Affairs at Tabriz Municipality, and by Kamal Khosh-Peyman, an Intelligence Ministry agent.

According to Navidpour, the Guardian Council contacted her and asked her to send it her evidence. When she met members of the council, they told her: “File a complaint. We will stand behind you.” But after she filed her complaint and contacted the Guardian Council she was told: “It has nothing to do with us. We are not a law office.”

In the video she gave to Gunaz TV to broadcast, Navidpour asked international organizations to help ensure her safety. But now she is dead.

Posting on Telegram, Akbar A'lami, a former member of the parliament, called on the authorities to look into Navidpour’s case and question reports that it was a suicide — especially considering the victim's determined pursuit of her rights over the last four years.

 

Khodadadi’s Record on Rape

According to a report by the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) published in June 2018, there were at least two new allegations of multiple counts of sexual harassment and assault against Salman Khodadadi since Navidpour’s. But according to Navidpour, the number of victims is even higher. “I was with friends when I heard from one of them that Mr. Khodadadi had promised her a job as well and then raped her. This friend wanted to commit suicide on several occasions. That is when I understood that I was not the only victim, but none of the victims are prepared to file a complaint out of fear for their lives.”

The HRANA report says that Khodadadi “was previously accused of sexual harassment and assault and was detained on the charge of raping his secretary and a visitor to his office ... Khodadadi held the position of MP and was a member of the Parliament’s National Security Committee and Health Committee from 1996 to 2012. However, in 2012, Iran’s Ministry of Interior barred Mr. Khodadadi from running for parliament. The Guardian Council reversed the ban in 2016 and allowed him to return as a member of parliament the same year. In 2014, while Mr. Khodadadi was barred from the parliament, he was appointed as an adviser to Iran’s Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif.”

At the time, Khodadadi’s supporters claimed that he had been acquitted of the charges, but his critics believed that he was found “not guilty” only because proving rape and sexual assault is extremely difficult. However, they emphasize that he was not declared innocent, only found to be “not guilty.”  In any case, he was allowed to run in the 2016 parliamentary elections, after which he regained his seat.

 

A Man of Influence

Before he was first elected to the parliament in 1996, Khodadadi held other posts: Commander of the Revolutionary Guards in the city of Malekan, Deputy Head of the Intelligence Bureau of East Azerbaijan, and Deputy Head of the Intelligence Bureau of Ardabil province, which is adjacent to East Azerbaijan. He is currently the chairman of the parliament’s Social Affairs Committee, which is responsible for reviewing and drawing up bills concerning women’s affairs, employment, “social ills” and similar matters.

But rape is not the only charge against Khodadadi. He is also accused of nepotism. Through his influence, the MP’s relatives have been able to secure lucrative jobs. His nephew Masoud Hashempour, mentioned above, was for a while the mayor of District 5 in the city of Tabriz. The district is home to Tabriz’s grand bazaar and Hashempour has been accused of receiving bribes from merchants.

And Salman Khodadadi is not the only member of the Iranian parliament to have been accused of sexual misconduct [Persian link]. Mohammad Hasan Jamshidi from Behshahr and Hasan Seyed Abadi from Sabzevar have also been arrested for “moral corruption”. Nevertheless, Khodadadi stands out due to the number and continuity of his sexual crimes.

 

Related Coverage:

Gang Rapes 41 Women — But Victims Stay Silent, June 19, 2018

Ayatollah Khamenei Intervenes on Sexual Abuse Scandal, May 30, 2018

"Single Women Only": Sexual Harassment in Iran, October 26, 2017

The Leader, The Child Molester And His Victims, October 27, 2016

Sexual Assault in Zanjan Province: What the Law Says, May 19, 2016

The Rape Ward at Tehran’s Rajai Shahr Prison, January 21, 2016

Sexual Harassment on the Street: IranWire Readers Speak out, November 13, 2015

Blame the Woman: Sexual Harassment in Iran, June 11, 2015

Workplace Sexual Harassment: The Invisible Epidemic, July 7, 2015

Unsafe Environment: Sexual Harassment at Work, January 13, 2014