Abdorrahman Boroumand Center

[The original title of this article was “A 55-year-old murderer was executed at Mashhad’s Central Prison: The ‘Cousin’ Was Hanged!”]

Khorassan Newspaper

Monday, January 20, 2020

Incidents Section, Page 13

Sajjadpur, [reporter] - The Qesas (death penalty) sentence issued in the case of a 55-year-old man was carried out at dawn on January 14, at the Mashhad Central Prison. The man had been arrested five years ago by the Khorassan Razavi Province Criminal Investigation Police detectives for the murder of his cousin (his mother’s sister’s daughter), after a SIM card hidden [at the deceased’s residence] was discovered.

According to a Khorassan newspaper report, this criminal case came to the attention of Qassemambad Police Precinct officers in August of 2014, at which point they contacted the Intentional Murder Special Judge and informed him of the suspicious murder of a 35-year-old woman by the name of “A. M.”. A few minutes later, criminal investigations conducted by Judge Seyyed Javad Hosseini (Intentional Murder Special Judge at the time of the occurrence of the event) began at the apartment where, according to the Coroner, 12 hours had elapsed since the young woman’s death. Additionally, one of the gas lines in the home had been left open.

Subsequent to initial investigations at the scene of the discovery of the body, the deceased’s husband became a suspect; he claimed he had been working in another town and had returned to Mashhad the night prior to the discovery of the body but had not returned to his home for certain reasons. He was then arrested upon issuance of a court order. After detectives carried out further investigations, however, he was found to be innocent in the case and was subsequently released upon issuance of a release order.

The Khorassan report further states that police investigations continued, given the importance and magnitude of the case. The [investigating] judge’s opinion, based on the coroner’s statements, was that the young woman had died due to asphyxiation. Further field investigations by the judge led to discovery of some faint evidence pointing to the presence of a guest at the young woman’s home. At that point, the investigations entered a new stage. Based on guidance provided by the judge, the detectives were able to discover a SIM card hidden in the deceased’s home. Through the tracing of the phone numbers and the text messages in said SIM card, the police’s suspicions were directed at the deceased’s “cousin” (her mother’s sister’s son) who lived in the city of Gorgan. The man was arrested and interrogated but denied having had any contacts with the deceased, and further denied being in Mashhad [at the time]. However, the detectives work led to the gathering of further incriminating evidence, which led to the suspect stopping to tell tales and talk about what had actually happened in the case.

The 50-year-old murder suspect stated: “I had come from Gorgan to Mashhad that night and went to my cousin’s home. I was a guest at her home, and I knew her husband was away in another town and would not return home that night. I then brought up the case of a close family member’s [marital] problems because I was under the impression that she had interfered in their lives. She denied everything and an argument ensued, which resulted in a physical altercation. I pushed her but she was still screaming. I was afraid that the neighbors would hear her, so I pushed her to the floor and put a small pillow over her nose and mouth when all of a sudden she stopped moving and her body became languid. I realized I had killed her. So I decided to create an artificial crime scene: I turned the TV on and opened the gas line so that her death would look like a suicide. I then picked up the cell phone and the pillow and threw them in the garbage can on the street and fled to Gorgan.”

The report continues: “Once the investigations were completed at the Prosecutor’s Office, the case was sent to Khorassan Razavi Province Criminal Court, Branch Five, where the defendant was tried. The case was tried by Judge Mojtaba Alizadeh (the presiding judge) and Judge Mohammad Esmael Andalib (member judge at the time). The defendant expressly confessed to having committed murder and proceeded to describe the details of the crime in the presence of his attorney. At the close of the proceedings, the court’s experienced judges heard the defendant’s closing arguments, at which time they issued a sentence of Qesas of life (“death penalty”) and 99 lashes.”

The Khorassan report further continues that the case went to the Supreme Court upon appeal of the decision by the defendant’s attorney. Upon a careful examination of the case and given the incriminating evidence existing in the case file, the Supreme Court’s experienced judges upheld the Khorassan Razavi Criminal Court One, Branch Five’s ruling. The 50-year-old cousin was thus faced with an impending death penalty.

According to this report, once the preparations for the implementation of the sentence were made at the Mashhad Prosecutor’s Office, this cruel murderer went to the gallows at Mahhad Central Prison in the presence of the Sentence Implementation Judge and other relevant officials. His efforts in creating a fake crime scene did not save him from punishment and he was put to death.

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[This Article’s original title was “A Hidden SIM Card Led The Perpetrator Of The Crime To The Gallows!”]

Khorassan newspaper

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Incidents Section, Page 13

Sajjadpur, [reporter] - A 50-year-old man who was arrested by the Khorassan Razavi Criminal Investigations Police detectives on the charge of murdering his cousin (his mother’s sister’s daughter) after the discovery of a hidden SIM card, was sentenced by the Khorassan Razavi Criminal Court One to Qesas of life (death penalty) and 99 lashes after several trial sessions.

According to a Khorassan newspaper report, this criminal case came to the attention of Qassemambad Police Precinct officers on August 19 of last year, at which point they contacted the Intentional Murder Special Judge and informed him of the suspicious murder of a 35-year-old woman by the name of “A.” A few minutes later, judicial investigations conducted by Judge Seyyed Javad Hosseini (Intentional Murder Special Judge at the time of the occurrence of the event) began at the apartment where, according to the Coroner, 12 hours had elapsed since the young woman’s death. Additionally, one of the gas lines in the home had been left open.

Subsequent to initial investigations at the scene of the discovery of the body, the deceased’s husband became a suspect; he claimed he had been working in another town and had returned to Mashhad the night prior to the discovery of the body but had not returned to his home for certain reasons. He was then arrested upon issuance of a court order. After detectives carried out further investigations, however, he was found to be innocent in the case and was subsequently released upon issuance of a release order.

The Khorassan report states that police investigations continued given the importance and magnitude of the case. The [investigating] judge’s opinion, based on the coroner’s oral statements, was that the young woman had died due to asphyxiation, but there was no reliable evidence of that. There was some faint evidence pointing to the presence of a guest at the young woman’s home. With the investigating judge’s guidance, the detectives were able to discover a SIM card hidden in the deceased’s home. Through the tracing of the phone numbers and the text messages in said SIM card, the police’s suspicions were directed at the deceased’s “cousin” (her mother’s sister’s son) who lived in the city of Gorgan. The man was arrested and interrogated but denied having had any contacts with the deceased. However, the detectives’ work led to the gathering of further incriminating evidence, which led to the suspect to stop telling tales and talk about what had actually happened in the case.

The 50-year-old murder suspect stated: “I had come from Gorgan to Mashhad that night and went to my cousin’s home. I was a guest at her home, and I knew her husband was away in another town and would not return home that night. I then brought up the case of a close family member’s [marital] problems because I was under the impression that she had interfered in their lives. She denied everything and an argument ensued, which resulted in a physical altercation. I pushed her but she was still screaming. I was afraid that the neighbors would hear her, so I pushed her to the floor and put a small pillow over her nose and mouth when all of a sudden she stopped moving and her body became languid. I realized I had killed her. So I decided to create an artificial crime scene: I turned the TV on and opened the gas line so that her death would look like a suicide. I then picked up the cell phone and the pillow and threw them in the garbage can on the street and fled to Gorgan.”

The report continues: “Once the investigations were completed at the Prosecutor’s Office, the case was sent to Khorassan Razavi Province Criminal Court Branch Five where the defendant was tried. The case was tried by Judge Mojtaba Alizadeh (the presiding judge) and Judge Mohammad Esmael Andalib (member judge at the time). The defendant expressly confessed to having committed murder and proceeded to describe the details of the crime in the presence of his attorney. At the close of the proceedings, the court’s experienced judges heard the defendant’s closing arguments, at which time they issued a sentence of Qesas of life (“death penalty”) and 99 lashes.” The sentence can be appealed to the Supreme Court.