Ex-Tehran mayor sentenced to death over wife´s murder

TEHRAN: Former Tehran mayor Mohammad Ali Najafi was sentenced to death after being convicted of murdering his wife, the judiciary said Tuesday, after a high-profile case that received extensive media coverage.

A prominent reformist, Najafi was found guilty of shooting dead his second wife Mitra Ostad at their home in the capital on May 28, said Iran´s judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili. According to Iranian media reports, her body was found in a bathtub after Najafi, 67, turned himself in and confessed to killing her.

"The charge sheet included premeditated murder, battery and possession of an illegal firearm," Esmaili said, quoted by the judiciary´s official news agency Mizan Online. "The court has established premeditated murder and passed the execution sentence," he added.

Najafi was acquitted of the battery charge but received a two-year jail sentence for possessing the illegal firearm, the spokesman said without elaborating. His lawyer said he would appeal the sentence. "We hope the supreme court accepts our concerns and helps justice to be served by rejecting the verdict," ISNA news agency quoted Hamid Goudarzi as saying.

Ostad´s family had appealed for the Islamic law of retribution to be applied, an "eye for an eye" form of punishment which would see the death penalty served in this instance. Najafi´s trial received detailed coverage in state media where scandals related to politicians rarely appear on television.