A former Iranian vice president and mayor of Tehran was arrested Tuesday after he confessed to shooting one of his wives dead in her home over “domestic issues”, Iran’s state news agency reported.
U.S. educated Mohammad-Ali Najafi, 67, was detained after he went to authorities and confessed to killing wife Mitra Najafi, IRNA quoted a prosecutor as saying.
In the Wednesday hearing, Najafi gave a more detailed account of what happened. He said had asked Ostad for a divorce several times, but that she had refused.
“My second wife frequently threatened me to initially destroy the lives of my first wife and my daughter, and then ruin mine by cheating on me,” Najafi was quoted as saying.
Najafi said in an interview he had only meant to use the pistol to “scare” his younger wife and end days of domestic “argument”.
He said he followed Ostad to the bathroom with the handgun and fired after she panicked and “scuffled” with him.
The court heard the couple were having domestic problems that started in 2018 after Ali Najafi resigned as mayor when he was exposed by religious hardliners as having attended a dance performance by young girls.
Islamic law in Iran prohibits public dancing. Similarly, women are forbidden from singing in front of men if their voices are not covered by male voices.
Earlier on Tuesday, Iranian media confirmed Ostad had been killed in northern Tehran. One bullet reportedly pierced her chest, while another hit her arm, out of five gunshots fired.
AP contributed to this report