Tasnim news agency on Thursday reported, Iranian police have detained the “main killer” of director Dariush Mehrjui, who was killed by stabbing together with his wife over the weekend.
Iran police arrest killer of Mehrjui: The 54-year-old scriptwriter and the 83-year-old actor, who was a part of the Iranian new wave of cinema, were assassinated on Saturday at their house in Karaj, a city in the Alborz province west of Tehran.
According to Tasnim, who quoted the police, “the main killer who was among those arrested by the police was identified and confirmed” during early investigations.
“Interrogations are still ongoing to identify the accomplices and hidden angles of this murder.”
According to the judiciary’s Mizan Online website, Alborz Province Chief Justice Hossein Fazeli-Harikandi stated that investigations suggested “personal differences” were the cause of the murder.
Without going into more detail, Mizan reported on Tuesday that 10 persons had been detained by the police in connection with the killings.
For the funeral of Mehrjui and his wife on Wednesday, prominent members of the Iranian film industry attended, including the directors Jafar Panahi and Massoud Kimiai.
Any “link between the murder of Mehrjui and the serial assassinations” of dissident intellectuals carried out by the nation’s secret agency in November 1998 has been disproven, according to Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi.
The government blamed “uncontrolled elements” from the intelligence ministry, who were given life sentences in jail, for the crimes in 1998.
However, The most well-known works of Mehrjui include the metaphorical drama “The Cow” from 1969 and the dark comedy “Hamoun” from 1990, which depicted a day in the life of an intellectual who was going through a divorce and experiencing psychological anxiety.
According to state news agency IRNA, the couple was buried on Thursday in the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery’s artists area in southern Tehran.