Suspicious death of young woman after complaining about rape against MP

The body of a young woman who accused a member of parliament of sexual assault was found in her home. A lawyer who was advising the woman expressed doubts in an interview with DW whether the woman died of natural causes or committed suicide.

The lifeless body of Zahra Navidpour, a young woman who had filed a lawsuit against a member of parliament for sexual assault, was found on Sunday, January 6, 2018, in her mother's home in the city of Malekan in East Azerbaijan.

The news of this young woman's death was announced on his Telegram channel on January 7 by Akbar A'Alami, a former representative in the sixth and seventh terms of the parliament.

According to reports, Ms. Navidpour's body was transferred to Farabi Hospital in Malekan County on Sunday and, after her death was declared certain, was transferred to the city's forensic medicine office to investigate the cause of her death.

Reports indicate that the 28-year-old woman ended her life by "suicide."

A'alami wrote on his Telegram channel: "Given Ms. Navidpour's determination to achieve her rights, her suicide is a matter of concern for the competent authorities and a questionable issue."

Zahra Navidpour, in a series of audio files and an interview with a television station owned by the Republic of Azerbaijan, claimed that she had been sexually assaulted in 2014 following a job application from Salman Khodadadi, a representative of the people of Malekan in the Islamic Consultative Assembly.

In a television interview, Ms. Navidpour stated that in June 2018, she had filed a complaint against Khodadadi to the Supervisory Board for the Performance of Parliamentarians, the Guardian Council, and then to the Court of Malekan.

Salman Khodadadi is currently a member of the Parliament's Social Commission and also the head of the Tehran Province Rowing Board.

Akbar A'alami wrote on Telegram that despite Navidpour's judicial pursuits and A'alami's legal pursuits through several members of parliament, the complaint case remained inconclusive.

Navidpour had also announced on social media that he had been repeatedly threatened with "acid attack" and "death" by unknown individuals and "those around the said representative," and had also informed the court of this matter.

In a handwritten letter published by the HRANA news agency and claimed to have been written by Zahra Navidpour to the judge in her case, the author claimed that the threats against her were intensified around the clock by suspicious elements and requested "to ensure her safety."

The letter is dated October 16 of this year.

In his telegram, Akbar A'alami expressed regret over the silence of the press inside Iran, officials, and members of parliament regarding Ms. Navidpour's complaint, writing: "A voice was heard from the stone, but the press, officials, and members of parliament did nothing to at least defend the accused or their colleague and announce to the public that the sexual victim's claim is a complete lie and has no truth."

Navidpour claimed in a television report that Salman Khodadadi had admitted to the charges in the second session of the Tehran court and that the judge had issued him bail of 200 million Tomans.

According to HRANA, citing Navidpour, the judge in the case has promised to issue a verdict soon.

HRANA subsequently reported that on December 25, Ms. Navidpour announced that her case had been sent from Tabriz to Tehran and expressed dissatisfaction with the “wasting of time” in reviewing her complaint.

Salman Khodadadi's moral accusations

Salman Khodadadi was recruited into the intelligence and security apparatus of the Islamic Republic after the victory of the Islamic Revolution. He was an intelligence element during the executions of East Azerbaijan in the 1980s. After a decade of activity in the Intelligence Department of Azerbaijan, Salman Khodadadi, with the support of the militant clerical community, ran for the fourth parliamentary elections from the Bonab and Malekan constituency, but failed to gain the necessary votes. However, he was a member of parliament from this constituency in the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and tenth terms.

Khodadadi was arrested in the seventh parliament on charges of raping his secretary and a girl who visited the representatives' office and sent to Evin Prison; an issue that led to the rejection of his credentials by the representatives.

After half an hour of negotiations in a closed session, while a number of people from Malekan gathered in front of the parliament and demanded Salman Khodadadi's expulsion from the parliament, the representatives were persuaded to vote positively on Khodadadi's credentials.

Rape or consensual sex?

Masoud Akhtarani Tehrani, a lawyer based in Austria, who says that he met Zahra Navidpour three months ago through his media friends in Tehran and has been giving her legal advice over the phone, told Deutsche Welle Farsi that Ms. Navidpour sent him audio files of phone conversations with the defendant and his relatives, as well as text messages sent between the defendant and the plaintiff and other members of parliament.

Regarding the rape accusation, Akhtarani says: "Ms. Navidpour sent three or four audio files of her and Khodadadi's conversations, in which they are spoken in Turkish and in which Mr. Khodadadi confesses to the rape."

In the audio file attributed to Salman Khodadadi, published by the HRANA news agency and spoken in Turkish, Deutsche Welle Farsi concluded that not all of the Turkish conversations were translated into Persian and that the male speaker did not admit to rape and said: "You had sexual intercourse with me with your own consent, you didn't want to!"

Deutsche Welle Persian cannot verify the authenticity of this audio file.

Masoud Akhtarani Tehrani, a lawyer, continues the conversation by saying: "If the issue was not rape, then why did the defendant persist in filing his complaint despite all those threats? According to the audio conversations that have been made available to me, Ms. Navidpour could have accepted the offer of 500 million tomans and two apartments."

Possibility of suicide

The lack of social security and necessary protection for women in pursuing their legal rights is not a new issue in Iran, but this time the person accused of threatening the plaintiff of her case with death is a lawmaker and a member of the Parliament's Social Commission.

Akhtarani Tehrani says that Ms. Navidpour last called him two weeks ago and informed him that she had changed her phone number due to numerous threats.

He says: "I talked to this woman for hours. She was not suicidal at all and did not even think about suicide for a second. Ms. Navidpour reported in a conversation with my colleague, who is a woman, that she was in perfect physical health."

Source: DW