Tehran Criminal Prosecution: Mohammad Ali Najafi confessed to murdering his wife
According to the head of Tehran's Criminal Prosecution Office, former Tehran mayor Mohammad Ali Najafi has introduced himself to the police and confessed to the murder of his wife, Mitra Ostad.
Mohammad Shahriari, head of the Tehran Criminal Affairs Prosecutor's Office, said: "Mohammad Ali Najafi confessed to killing his wife and said he killed her due to family disputes."
Iranian news agencies reported on Tuesday afternoon, May 28, that Mitra Ostad, the second wife of Mohammad Ali Najafi, was shot dead five times in her apartment in the Saadat Abad area of Tehran.
According to Mohammad Shahriari, Mohammad Ali Najafi went to Tehran's intelligence police on Tuesday evening and surrendered to the officers.
However, earlier, Babak Namakshenas, head of the capital's police information center, had said that measures were being taken to arrest Mitra Ostad's killer and that investigations into the victim's wife were also underway.
On the other hand, after the news of Mitra Ostad's murder was published, Alireza Lotfi, head of Tehran's intelligence police, announced the identification of the suspect in the case and said that he was on the run.
Following the publication of the statements of the head of Tehran's intelligence police, some Iranian news agencies, quoting him, denied the news of Mohammad Ali Najafi's escape.
A marriage that became controversial
Shortly after Mohammad Ali Najafi's first resignation from the position of mayor of Tehran in March 2017, photos of him and Mitra Ostad, his second wife, who was much younger than him, were published on social media, causing a stir.
At the time, Ms. Ostad said in response to these controversies : "It is not right to treat someone who has really worked so hard for the country and the system in this way; to mockingly talk about why he got married."
He told the "Omid Mardom" news channel: "They accused us of having illicit relations. I promise everyone that I have not seen anything bad from Dr. Najafi so far."
In another interview, in response to the rumor that his and Najafi's marriage was a concubine, he said: " We fell in love and got married; anyone can fall in love and get married. I have a marriage certificate, and even if I were a concubine, there would be no problem."
However, Mitra Ostad's 13-year-old son, after learning of his mother's death, told news agencies today that Mohammad Ali Najafi, according to him, had been hitting and beating his mother.
He said that once, when he tried to stop his mother from being beaten, Mohammad Ali Najafi broke his hand.
Long-term presence in cabinets
Mohammad Ali Najafi, a member of the Construction Workers Party, has held various positions in the Islamic Republic over the past three decades.
His last position was as mayor of Tehran. Najafi was elected mayor of Tehran in September 2017, but the Tehran City Council accepted his second resignation about eight months later. At the time, it was said that Najafi resigned due to external pressure, although he himself stated that the reason for his resignation was “medical problems.”
Mohammad Ali Najafi was the Minister of Science in the governments of Mohammad Javad Bahonar, Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani, and the first government of Mir Hossein Mousavi.
He served as Minister of Education for ten years from September 1988 to August 1997, during the presidency of Ali Khamenei and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
During the presidency of Mohammad Khatami, Najafi served as Vice President and Head of the Planning and Budget Organization for three years. He was then a member of the Tehran City Council from 2007 to 2013. After Hassan Rouhani won the presidential election, he first served as Vice President and Head of the Cultural Heritage Organization for a few months, and then continued his collaboration with Hassan Rouhani as the President's Economic Advisor until 2017. During this time, he also served as Acting Minister of Science for a few months in 2014.
Source: DW
