Saeed Hanaei

Saeed Hanaei ( Persian سعید حنایی; * 20th century; † April 8, 2002 ) was an Iranian serial killer . Hanaei murdered 16 female prostitutes in the city of Mashhad between 2000 and 2001 , most of whom were drug addicts . His motive was to want to eliminate decadence and moral decay .

Religious madness

Hanaei later testified that he made up his mind to kill prostitutes after his wife was believed to be one. The large number of prostitutes in the city was responsible for this and so he considered the killing of prostitutes to be his religious duty.

In a recent interview, Hanaei showed no remorse for his actions, saying that for him killing women was tantamount to kicking cockroaches. He was on a divine mission to cleanse the area around the holy shrine of Mashhad and therefore Allah approved his actions.

Series of murders

Hanaei said he saw his victims when he drove around the city in a car or on a motorcycle. After making his choice, he took it home with him when his wife and three children were away. He strangled the victims with their headscarves, wrapped their bodies from head to toe in a black chador and threw them on the street at another location. Then he often waited for the police to appear and pretended to help in order to divert suspicion.

Victim

Hanaei confessed to murdering 16 women; however, in the period from the first murder to his arrest, the bodies of 19 women were found in Mashhad.

Arrest, trial and execution

Hanaei was arrested more than two years after his first victim was found. One of the women he was targeting became suspicious and punched him in the stomach, whereupon she escaped and led the police on his trail.

The parliament had recently transferred the case to the highest provincial authorities and also sent a special unit from Tehran to Mashhad.

In the early morning hours of April 17, 2002 Hanaei was in Tehran hanged .

Others

• The documentary And Along Came a Spider (Original title: Va ankaboot amad ), which was published in 2003, tells the story of the murderer.
• In 2017, a graphic novel by the comic artist Mana Neyestani about Saeed Hanaei was published in France , which was also published in German in 2018 under the title " The Spider of Maschhad ".

swell

• Article in the New York Times
• Va ankaboot amad in the Internet Movie Database (English)