Mohammed BIJEH

AKA "Hyena" - "The Vampire of the Tehran desert"

Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Rape - Pedophile
Number of victims: 20
Date of murders: March-September 2004
Date of arrest: September 2004
Date of birth: February 7, 1975
Victims profile: 17 children (boys between 8 and 15 years old) and 3 adults
Method of murder: Blows from a stone
Location: Tehran, Iran
Status: Executed by hanging in Pakdasht on March 16, 2005

Mohammed Bijeh (Persian: محمد بيجه) (February 7, 1975 – March 16, 2005) was an Iranian serial killer. He confessed in court to raping and killing 16 young boys between March and September 2004, and was sentenced to 100 lashes followed by execution. All the boys were between 8 and 15 years old. In addition, he killed two adults.

On March 16, 2005, in front of a crowd of about 5,000, his shirt was removed and he was handcuffed to an iron post, where he received his lashings from different judicial officials. He fell to the ground more than once during the punishment, but did not cry out. A relative of one of the victims managed to get by security and stab Bijeh. The mother of one of the victims put a blue nylon rope around his neck, and he was hoisted about 10 meters in the air by a crane until he died.

He was hanged in Pakdasht, Iran, the town near the desert area where the killings occurred. AKA (Desert Vampire, Night Bat: Khofashe Shab).

Wikipedia.org

Iran's 'desert vampire' executed

BBC News

Wednesday, 16 March, 2005

An Iranian serial killer who murdered at least 20 children has been executed in front a large crowd of spectators.

Mohammad Bijeh, 24, dubbed "the Tehran desert vampire" by Iran's press, was flogged 100 times before being hanged.

A brother of one of his young victims stabbed him as he was being punished. The mother of another victim was asked to put the noose around his neck.

The execution took place in Pakdasht south of Tehran, near where Bijeh's year-long killing spree took place.

The killer was hoisted about 10 metres into the air by a crane and slowly throttled to death in front of the baying crowd.

Hanging by a crane - a common form of execution in Iran - does not involve a swift death as the condemned prisoner's neck is not broken.

Calm and silent

The killer collapsed twice during the punishment, although he remained calm and silent throughout.

Spectators, held back by barbed wire and about 100 police officers, chanted "harder, harder" as judicial officials took turns to flog Bijeh's bare back before his hanging.

Bijeh was stabbed by the 17-year-old brother of victim Rahim Younessi, AFP reported, as he was being readied to be hanged.

Officials then invited the mother Milad Kahani to put the blue nylon rope around his neck.

The crimes of Mohammed Bijeh and his accomplice Ali Baghi had drawn massive attention in the Iranian media.

They reportedly tricked children to go with them into the desert south of Tehran by saying they were going to hunt animals. They then poisoned or knocked their victims out, sexually abused them and buried them in shallow graves.

They were found guilty of the murders of between 19 and 22 people, but local people believe the toll to be higher.

Baghi has been given a 15 year prison term.

Crowd Sees Rapist Hanged In Iran

Associated Press

March 16, 2005

(AP) A young man convicted of raping and murdering 16 boys was lashed 100 times, and then hanged Wednesday in front of a large, angry crowd who pelted him with stones and scuffled with police.

Mohammed Bijeh, 23, confessed in court to raping and murdering the children, between March and September 2004. Iranian media have said Bijeh burned the bodies of his victims, all boys between 8 and 15.

Bijeh was sentenced to one death sentence for each murder he confessed and 100 lashes of the whip for the rapes.

An accomplice, Ali Gholampour, was acquitted of involvement in the murders but was convicted of taking part in some of the kidnappings, to which he confessed. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 100 lashes.

Bijeh's verdict was carried out in Pakdasht, a small, impoverished town about 19 miles southeast of Tehran, after being upheld by the Supreme Court. It was the same town where the murders took place.

Approximately 5,000 spectators — including women and children — gathered to watch the flogging and hanging. Riot police circled the area.

Some in the crowd threw stones at Bijeh as he was flogged, shirtless and hands tied to an iron pole. He fell to his knees three times as he received the lashes.

A relative of one of the victims broke police security and attacked Bijeh with a knife, wounding his back before police dragged him away.

After the flogging, a rope was put around Bijeh's neck and attached to a hook on a crane. The crane's arm jerked upward and Bijeh's body dangled, drawing applause from the crowd.

Some people burst into tears, crying out the names of their injured children. Some shouted, "Shame on you, Bijeh!"

After about 20 minutes, the body was lowered and a doctor confirmed Bijeh was dead.

Many in the crowd, some of them other family members of the victims, repeatedly tried to approach Bijeh's body but were prevented by riot police. Scuffles continued for at least half an hour.

The case provoked national outrage in Iran. Sixteen police officers were reprimanded for dereliction of duty and the Interior Ministry criticized the police for failing to catch the suspects after the first crime.

Many of the people in Pakdasht supported the hanging.

"Public executions reduce the occurrence of offenses. Bijeh destroyed many families. He deserved more than death," said resident Zahra Khaleghi.

But Dariush Mehraban said public hangings only promote violence.

"Many criminals have been hanged, but offenses have never reduced. It's an ugly scene that a human being is hanged even if he has committed many crimes. Revenge is not the solution," said Merhraban, who watched the hanging.

Convicts are hanged in public in Iran only if a court deems that their offenses deeply affected public sentiment.

Iranian courts are controlled by hard-liners. Iranian reformists say public executions hurt the country's international image and reflect badly on Islam.

Iranian child serial killers to be hanged in public

Thursday, November 18, 2004

LONDON, Nov 18 (IranMania) - Two Iranian men convicted of kidnapping and murdering about 20 children in the desert south of Tehran have been sentenced to be hanged in public at the scene of their crimes, the state news agency IRNA said Wednesday.

Last month a Tehran court sentenced Mohammad Bijeh, the alleged mastermind of the crimes, to be lashed and hanged, while his accomplice Ali Baghi was ordered to be lashed and spend 15 years behind bars.

But after the two-day trial, which was interrupted by furious relatives of the victims, the head of the judiciary Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi ordered a re-trial of the pair given that one of them escaped death.

According to Iran's State Newsd Agency (IRNA), the head of the judiciary in Tehran, Abbas Ali Alizadeh said that the pair had been found "corrupt on earth" and would now both die for the crimes.

"They will be publicly executed at the very crime scene," he was quoted as saying, but added the men can appeal within 20 days and the death penalties were subject to supreme court approval.

The two are reported to have been convicted of killing between 19 and 22 people, most of them young children, around the impoverished town of Pakdasht just south of Tehran.

The prosecution and families of the victims have demanded that both men, dubbed "hyenas" or "vampires of the Tehran desert" in the press, be executed.

The case has drawn huge media attention, with one reader writing to a newspaper asking for the alleged killers -- who worked in brickworks -- to be burned alive in a brick furnace.

The pair were arrested in September.

Over a period of more than a year, they reportedly lured children into the desert by saying they were going to dig out rabbits or foxes from their burrows.

The two reportedly stunned their victims with blows from a stone, sexually abused them and buried the bodies in shallow graves in the desert south of Tehran. They also allegedly placed dead animals near their victims' bodies to cover up the smell of the rotting corpses.

Reports have also said the pair picked some of their victims from poor Afghan families who may have been living in Iran illegally, meaning that some disappearences were not reported to police.

Police Officers Awaiting Trial

For Laxity In Serial Murder Case

October 24, 2004

TEHRAN -- A senior judicial official said here Sunday investigations into charges of dereliction of duty against seven police officers related to the tragic case of Pakdasht serial murders have been completed and forwarded to courts, IRNA reported.

Abbasali Forati, the head of Tehran military courts, told reporters that the two policemen failed to identify Iran's most ruthless assassins Mohammad Basijeh (aka Bijeh) and Ali Gholampour (aka Ali Baghi) who raped and killed more than 20 people, mostly children.

Gholampour has reportedly been acquitted of murder charges by a Tehran court--a ruling many jurists believe was issued in a hurry.

The judicial official further said that the two policemen had also ignored calls by local people to inspect one of the murder scenes. He said the two are now in custody awaiting trial. Forati also said five more police officers have been arrested on charges of derailing the investigations by refusing to identify the murderers earlier at Tehran Police's Bureau of Investigation. "These five officers are now in custody and their dossiers have been completed and will be referred to a military court on Monday," he said, expressing hope that police officers found guilty of dereliction of duty would be punished in proportion to their charges.

Iranian serial child killer sentenced to death

October 14, 2004

TEHRAN - An Iranian judge has sentenced a man to death for killing 17 children, most of them young boys he raped first, and three adults, state television reported.

Mohammad Bijeh, 30, and his 24-year-old accomplice Ali Baghi, who was jailed for 15 years, were dubbed the "vampires of the Tehran desert" by local media.

They began to prey on children more than two years ago in the town of Pakdasht, south of Tehran, where the pair worked as brick makers.

But the killings did not come to light because many victims were from illegal refugee families from neighbouring Afghanistan who were afraid to come forward.

The trial was briefly halted earlier in the day when relatives of one of the victims attacked Bijeh as he gave testimony.

Family members began throwing chairs and tried to grab him as he recounted how he kidnapped, raped and killed one of his young victims.

Police whisked the two men out of the courtroom.

"Such crimes were not committed even by the Serbs against the Bosnians," sobbed the father of the boy whose murder Bijeh was recounting, the ISNA students news agency reported.

The killers put dead cats and dogs near the shallow graves of their victims to disguise the stench of the corpses.

Bijeh was convicted of 19 of the killings and received 16 death sentences. Four families did not press for the death penalty, agreeing to settle for blood money compensation instead.

One death penalty was for rape. As the killers came from indigent families the state will pay the blood money to the four families that demanded it.

High profile murderers are sometimes executed in public.

Iran's last serial killing case ended in 2002 with the hanging of the so-called "spider" from the northeastern city of Mashhad who strangled 16 prostitutes with their headscarves.

Trial of child killers halted by furious relatives

Tehran, October 13, 2004

The trial of two Iranian men accused of killing 20 people, mostly children, had to be halted on Wednesday after relatives of the victims made a furious courtroom stampede, witnesses said.

According to one witness, the angry scenes erupted as one of the alleged serial murderers, Mohammad Bijeh, was calmly recounting to the courtroom the horrific details of how he kidnapped, beat, raped and murdered one of the children.

"He was completely calm and free of any remorse. He gave all the gory details on how he killed his seventh victim. The family of the victim then rose from their seats and ran towards him," said a witness.

"Then other relatives of the victims began shouting and running at the accused. They wanted to kill the accused men with bare hands. The police then quickly whisked the accused out of the court," the witness said.

"The courtroom was a mess and the hearing was halted."

Bijeh and his alleged accomplice Ali Baghi, dubbed "hyenas" or "vampires of the Tehran desert" in the press, were arrested last month and have been charged with killing and raping 17 children, two men and a woman in the desert south of Tehran.

The trial of the two men, who worked in brickworks in Pakdasht, an impoverished town south of Tehran, opened on Tuesday with the prosecutor and victims' relatives demanding the death penalty.

The case has drawn huge media attention, with one reader writing to a newspaper asking for the alleged killers to be burned alive in a brick furnace and President Mohammad Khatami has ordered his interior minister to personally investigate the case.

The pair allegedly stunned victims they had kidnapped with blows from a stone, sexually abused them and buried the bodies in shallow graves in the desert south of Tehran. They also allegedly placed dead animals near their victims' bodies to cover up the smell of the rotting corpses.

Execution demanded as child killer trial opens

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

LONDON, Oct 12 (IranMania) - The trial of two Iranian men accused of kidnapping, raping and murdering 20 people -- most of them children -- began in Tehran on Tuesday with the prosecutor and victims' relatives demanding the death penalty, Agence France Press (AFP) reported.

Mohammad Bijeh and his alleged accomplice Ali Baghi, dubbed "hyenas" or "vampires of the Tehran desert" in the press, were arrested last month and have been charged with killing and raping 17 children, two men and a woman in the desert south of Tehran.

According to Iranian media the two men were judged to be in their "full faculty", meaning they could stand trial.

The trial of the two men, who worked in a brickworks in Pakdasht, an impoverished town south of Tehran, is taking place behind closed doors due the horrific nature of the crimes, state television said.

No further information on Tuesday's proceedings were available.

If convicted, the pair face execution, and reports said the prosecutor and relatives of those killed called Tuesday for "the harshest possible sentence".

The Iranian student news agency ISNA quoted the father of a young boy who was one of the victims as complaining of irregularities in the case, notably that Baghi was arrested at one point but then allowed free on bail.

The father, who was not named, also questioned whether the two were merely a part of a larger group "dealing in children's body parts".

"We are ready to pay the judiciary as much as they want so they can hand them over to us and we can deal with them," the man said.

The case has drawn huge media attention, with one reader writing to a newspaper asking for the alleged killers to be burned alive in a brick furnace and President Mohammad Khatami has ordered his interior minister to personally investigate the case.

Over a period of more than a year, the men allegedly lured children into the desert by saying they were going to dig out rabbits or foxes from their burrows.

They then allegedly stunned their victims with blows from a stone, sexually abused them and buried the bodies in shallow graves. They also allegedly placed dead animals near their victims' bodies to cover up the smell of the rotting corpses.

Reports have also said the pair picked some of their victims from poor Afghan families who may have been living in Iran illegally, meaning that some disappearences were not reported to police.

An announcement on the Iranian police website said 19 officers have been reprimanded for "shortcomings" in tackling the case, with seven of those reprimanded also referred to the judicial body dealing with the police. The statement did not say what punishment the officers faced.

An Iranian judiciary spokesman, Jamal Karimi-Rad, was quoted on ISNA as saying "two inspectors, an assistant public prosecutor and Pakdasht prosecutor also evidently had some shortcomings in dealing with this case."