Iran sentences former Tehran mayor to death for killing wife

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s state TV says a former mayor of Tehran who also served as one of the country’s vice-presidents was sentenced to death for killing his wife.

Tuesday’s report quotes judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili as saying that Mohammad Ali Najafi was convicted of fatally shooting his wife, Mitra Ostad. The verdict can be appealed within 20 days.

Police detained Najafi in May, after he went to authorities and confessed to the killing. At the time, officials said Najafi and Ostad, his second his wife, were having domestic problems.

Najafi resigned as mayor in 2018, after hard-liners criticized him over a video showing he attended a dance performance by young girls at a school show.

Gun violence is very rare in Iran, especially among the country’s political and economic elite.