Iran Hangs Saeed Hanaei, the Mashhad "Spider Killer" Who Killed 16 Women
The judge had promised a public execution, but the construction worker was hanged inside a prison compound, telling witnesses he had acted for the sake of God.
Published
Saeed Hanaei told his trial that he had killed women in Mashhad to fight moral corruption. On April 17, 2002, Iran hanged him, and his last words were that he had done it for the sake of God.
The judge had originally promised a public execution, but Hanaei was hanged inside the prison compound, according to a journalist from Iran's state-run media who was allowed to watch. "I did it for the sake of God," the journalist quoted him as saying moments before he died. Some of the victims' relatives were present. A later account said Hanaei had expected to the end that someone in the government would save him.
Hanaei, a 39-year-old construction worker, had been sentenced to death in October 2001 for murdering 16 women in Mashhad, the Iranian holy city that is home to the shrine of Imam Reza. The killings began in 2000, and the Iranian press called them the "spider killings." Hanaei told police he started killing after a man mistook his wife for a prostitute. His trial was widely publicized, and some Iranians openly praised him.
Several more women had been killed in the city, and police had made no further arrests by the time of his execution.
Hanaei confessed to 16 killings, while Iranian press reports in July 2001 counted 19 women dead in the series.
Sources
- Prostitute killer hanged in Iran, Irish Examiner
- And Along Came a Spider, IranWire
- Iran: 'Spider Killings' Claim 19 Prostitutes, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty