Defense Attorney of Murder Suspect Emphasizes 'Complexity of the Case': Uncertainties May Never Be Resolved

The defense attorney of the primary suspect in the murder case of Dariush Mehrjui and Vahideh Mohammadi-Far stated that this case is very complex and contains numerous ambiguities that may never be resolved. Amir Mousakhani, the defense lawyer for the primary suspect in the murder of the renowned Iranian filmmaker Dariush Mehrjui and his wife Vahideh Mohammadi-Far, emphasized in an interview with the newspaper Etemad published on Sunday, July 29, that his client completely 'denies committing the murder' and that his confession to the murder was 'under pressure.' He stated: 'The murder case of Mr. Mehrjui and his wife is a very complex case that may never have its ambiguities resolved.' This attorney pointed out that there is 'no strong motive' for his client in these murders, adding that 'the question remains unresolved as to why four suspects would start an operation with a common plan, in a single location, and with a single intention and motive, but then be deterred by an excuse and problem, only to return a week later to carry out the plan and murder the late Mehrjui and his wife? If the intent and motive was murder, how can the difference between these two dates be justified?' The defense attorney also mentioned, 'We must accept that some events in this case are truly unsolvable,' including 'how can one enter the crime scene for theft but leave the iPhone and tablet untouched?' or 'how can one commit murder in a neighborhood but continue working in the same place?' He pointed out contradictions in the case, stating that the issue between 'Mirovis' (the suspect) and Mehrjui was related to 'three years before the murder,' and the question is, 'Why would he hold onto three years of resentment and then act? And on the other hand, how did he know the cameras were broken and had not yet been repaired? How can the difference in the time of Karim's (the suspect) exit from the workplace villa and entry into the late Mehrjui's villa be justified?' Amir Mousakhani emphasized that 'the contradictions between the narratives of the suspects in the case, especially the contradictions between their accounts and what has been presented by the police and the prosecutor's office in the indictment, indicate the incompleteness of the murder case of Dariush Mehrjui and Vahideh Mohammadi-Far and the existence of numerous ambiguities in it, specifically the inability of the police and prosecutor's office to respond to these ambiguities.' The murder of Mehrjui and his wife was reported to the police by Mehrjui's daughter late on Saturday night, October 14, 2023, and while some observers considered the murder of Mehrjui and Mohammadi-Far to have signs of serial killings of artists, authorities introduced their former gardener as the main suspect in the murder on October 20. According to previous reports, the Supreme Court of the Islamic Republic has sent the case back to the prosecutor's office in Fardis, Alborz province, accepting the objections of Mehrjui's family lawyer. The lawyer for the heirs of Mehrjui and Mohammadi-Far previously stated that 'the court acted very hastily in issuing a verdict' and 'the possibility of another person or knife being involved cannot be ruled out.' Manouchehr Manoochehri, the lawyer for the heirs, had previously emphasized some flaws, including the failure to examine surveillance cameras, the absence of Mehrjui's blood on the murder weapon, and the concealment of the murder weapon underground.