The Murder that Shocked Iran + Judge Insults Journalist + Church Raid

This week, Iranians were shocked by the news that Tehran’s former mayor Mohammad Ali Najafi murdered his wife Mitra Ostad. Najafi has been a regime insider since 1979. He’s an MIT graduate who’s been the minister of education and the director of the Management and Planning Organization. Many Iranians viewed Najafi as a trustworthy technocrat who, rarely for an Iranian official, has never faced accusations of corruption. Yet Najafi’s confession to the killing and the way the police reacted to the killing have shocked many Iranians inside the country and in the diaspora. The reactions revealed the misogynist nature of the Islamic Republic and its officials, but also the conspiratorial and sexist attitude of many many Iranian commentators and cyber activists. 

A few hours after the murder, Najafi confessed to killing Mitra in the bathroom. He claimed that the victim was in touch with “an intelligence organization” and used to send information about him to it. He hasn’t named anyone yet, but Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence quickly released a communique saying that it’s not them. Najafi supporters claim that Mitra was a “swallow” (a la Jennifer Lawrence in Red Swallow) and that she was cultivated by the Revolutionary Guards’ Intelligence Unit. But that’s a strange claim because Najafi says that the victim was not only abusive, she was also domineering and did not allow him to contact his former wife and his children. Najafi’s former wife adds that Mitra had threatened to throw acid at them if Najafi’s family ever tried to get in touch with him. Soviet and Russian swallows, as they are portrayed in TV shows such as The Americans, are not in the business of domestic abuse; rather they try to kindly draw their partners into their lair. So Najafi and his supporters should make up their minds. Was Mitra a spy for the Guards or was she an abusive wife? She could not be both. 

Najafi’s other claim is that he had wanted to divorce Mitra for the last few months, but she was relentless and just didn’t accept this. So on the morning of Tuesday, May 28, he decided to threaten Mitra after she took a shower. He entered the bathroom with an old pistol, which was given to him in the 1980s when terrorists assassinated Iranian officials. He drew the pistol, pointed at her and asked her to divorce him. But then she jumped on him to defend herself and the pistol accidentally went off. So he basically says he’s sorry about killing her even though she deserved it. She was a bitch who deserved to die, I didn’t want to kill her, but, hey, stuff happens... 

It was eerie to see how many people in Iran and around the world came to Najafi’s defense and blamed the victim for her own murder. Nonetheless, the Twittersphere’s support of Najafi was was nothing compared to how kindly the Tehran Police treated him during an “interrogation” and how a line of senior police officers bowed and shook his hand as if he was still the mayor visiting the building after renovation. The first TV report of the murder was like a comedy sketch. As the reporter delivered a piece to the camera, Najafi was having a nice chat with the police officer in the background, slurping tea and smiling as he talked with the officer. Many Iranians have experienced interrogation and they know that sipping tea is not among the first things that happen in an interrogation room. 

Many Iranians also believe that they already know what will happen to Najafi: He will be charged with second-degree murder, he will be sentenced to life in prison, will be on prison leave most of the time and then will be the subject of an amnesty within a few years. Basically, it will be a mockery of justice, like the cases of hundreds of connected regime insiders who’ve been jailed for a variety of reasons in the last 40 years. 

As Iranians read through the shocking news of the murder, they also heard that about 90 percent of Iran’s export revenues have somehow gone missing, despite the fact that a special body was set up to deal with these funds. The people and companies benefitting are most likely authorized exporters, meaning that the Iranian regime has essentially given permission for a corrupt network of mafias to make huge amounts of money — something the country can ill afford given the massive economic crisis. 

Recently President Rouhani announced that he needed “special powers” in the current political and economic crisis, which he has likened to the Iran-Iraq war. But why now? Why did he not ask for more authority when it came to protecting people going out on the streets to exercise their right to speak out? As academic and analyst Sadegh Zibakalam points out, such powers are not even legal under Iran’s constitution. So, it seems outrageous that Rouhani would demand such changes, given that his key job as president is to uphold the constitution. There’s a time and a place for presidents to stand up to the Supreme Leader and the Revolutionary Guards, and Rouhani has missed all of them.

Perhaps he’s attempting to distract people from the human rights situation, which seems to be worsening by the day. Not only have more journalists faced arrest and intimidation, including prominent journalist Masoud Kazemi, but now there’s been a crackdown on Assyrian Christians in Tabriz. As an IranWire citizen journalist reports, over the weekend, intelligence agents removed the cross from the church and closed its doors to worshippers. The reason given? Church-goers drank wine during religious ceremonies. The only problem with this is that Iran has been allowing such practices for decades. But as anyone who follows news in Iran will know, it is much easier for authorities to crack down on freedoms than try to restore any semblance of an economically viable and operational country where people can live normal lives.