The footballer, his wife and his mistress… a story of love, murder and the Iranian legal system. Nasser Mohammadkhani was a striker for Persepolis, a popular football team. Like many Iranian men, he set up a second home with a “temporary wife” – a mistress, in other words. But in October 2002, while he was away playing in Germany, someone stabbed his wife, Laleh Saharkaniz, to death. The prime suspect was Shahla Jahed, his mistress.
The footballer, his wife and his mistress… a story of love, murder and the Iranian legal system.
Nasser Mohammadkhani was a striker for Persepolis, a popular football team. Like many Iranian men, he set up a second home with a “temporary wife” – a mistress, in other words.
But in October 2002, while he was away playing in Germany, someone stabbed his wife, Laleh Saharkaniz, to death. The prime suspect was Shahla Jahed, his mistress.
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This morning she was hanged, despite the fact that she had told the court that her confession had been whipped and tortured out of her. And many Iranians knew exactly what had gone on, because the sensational trial was as widely covered as that of OJ Simpson.
Mahnaz Afsahi’s remarkable documentary about the trial was banned in Iran, maybe because it exposed all the flaws in the country’s judicial system.
Today we spoke to Fereshteh Ghazi, a journalist who shared a cell with Shahla for two weeks.
“Shahla told me she was beaten up for 11 months and she was tortured. ” she said. “But she didn’t confess until Naser Mohammadkhani came to see her and asked her to take responsibility for the murder and she did so.”
Shahla’s conviction was based on her confession, but a judge who reviewed the case said evidence that Laleh had been raped was ignored in the original trial. He did not believe the stabbing had been carried out by a woman.
“Even is she had committed the crime, which she didn’t, Shahla and the murdered wife are both victims of a male-dominated society, a system that gives all the rights to men.
Shahla, Laleh, and all other women like them are all victims of flaws in the Iranian judicial system,” said Fereshteh Ghazi, who like other women’s and human rights activists in Iran, is in mourning tonight.