Supreme Court Returns Mehrjouyi Murder Case to Prosecutor; Many Unresolved Ambiguities

A Tehran-based newspaper reported significant and fundamental flaws in the murder case of Dariush Mehrjouyi and his wife, Vahideh Mohammadi-Far, stating that the Supreme Court accepted the objections of the Mehrjouyi family's lawyer and referred the case back to the Ferdows Prosecutor's Office for clarification. The newspaper "Etemad" quoted the lawyer of the victims' family, stating that "the court acted very hastily in issuing its verdict." It was also announced that "the possibility of another person or knife being involved is conceivable." Previously, the newspaper had interviewed "Manoush Manouchehri," the lawyer for the victims' family, who raised several issues, including the failure to examine surveillance cameras, the absence of Mehrjouyi's blood on the murder weapon, and the concealment of the murder weapon underground. The murder of Mehrjouyi and his wife was reported to the police by their daughter on the night of October 22, 2023. On October 29, 2023, Iranian media reported that a former gardener was accused of murdering Mehrjouyi and his wife. It was previously reported that at least 10 people had been arrested in connection with the murder of Dariush Mehrjouyi and Vahideh Mohammadi-Far, although Hossein Fazeli Hejandi, the head of the Alborz judiciary, mentioned that the number of suspects in this case was 20. Saeed Montazer al-Mahdi, the spokesperson for the Islamic Republic's police, stated that the "main killer" was among those arrested, having been identified and confirmed after technical investigations and cross-referencing. Fazeli Hejandi also reported on the completion of "technical and specialized interrogations" and confessions from several suspects. Alongside the official narrative of Mehrjouyi's murder, some social media users and political and civil activists compared this crime to the "serial murders" of writers and dissidents in the 1990s. At that time, Parviz Dashtmalchi, a writer and researcher, told Voice of America that the murder of this cinematic couple bore many similarities to the murders of individuals such as Shapour Bakhtiar. Ultimately, on February 12, 2024, the judiciary news agency announced the issuance of a preliminary verdict for the defendants in the murder case of Dariush Mehrjouyi and Vahideh Mohammadi-Far, stating that the first defendant was sentenced to "qisas nafs" (retribution in kind) and the second and third defendants to 36 years in prison. This ruling came despite the main defendant in the murder case, the renowned filmmaker Dariush Mehrjouyi, and his wife, stating in a court session on January 17, 2024, that they did not commit this murder and were coerced into confessing to it. A commemoration of the late Iranian director included a screening of the documentary "Dariush Mehrjouyi - Making the Cow" by Bahman Maqsoudlou. The preliminary verdict for the murder of Mehrjouyi included execution for the first defendant and 36 years in prison for the other defendants. The lawyer for the victims' family expressed skepticism about the court's ruling, citing flaws in the case. The court proceedings concluded with contradictory statements from the defendants. One of the defendants claimed, "I confessed under duress." The trial of the defendants began without the presence of the victims' family. The lawyer for Mehrjouyi's daughter expressed surprise at the issuance of the indictment, stating, "We have objected to the forensic report." The judiciary announced the issuance of an indictment for the defendants in the murder case of Mehrjouyi and Mohammadi-Far.