AN Iranian woman is facing execution after allegedly killing 11 elderly husbands over 22 years in a chilling bid to inherit their wealth.
Kulthum Akbari, 56, admitted to a serial murder spree that went undetected for more than two decades.
Prosecutors claim she used diabetes drugs, sedatives, and in some cases, industrial alcohol to fatally poison her spouses.
She would then transfer inherited property and dowries into her daughter’s name, reports Gulf News.
The killings began in 2000 and continued until 2023, when the suspicious death of her final victim – 82-year-old Gholamreza Babaei – led to her arrest.
Babaei’s son reportedly became suspicious after a family friend revealed his own father had previously been married to a woman named Kolthum who had tried to poison him.
When the family recognised her as Babaei’s recent wife, they alerted police.
The murders spanned across multiple cities in Iran’s northern Mazandaran province, including Sari, Neka, Mahmoudabad, Babol and Qaemshahr.
Under interrogation, Akbari told investigators: “I don’t know how many I killed. Maybe it was 13 or 15 people. I don’t remember exactly.”
Akbari, dubbed by Iranian media as the ‘Black Widow’, eventually confessed to murdering 11 men and attempting to kill another, according to court documents.
Masih Nemati survived Akbari’s poisoning attempt after drinking contaminated syrup in 2020.
Several of the confirmed victims include Mirahmad Omrani, 69, who died a month after their 2013 marriage, Esmail Bakhshi, 62, who lost his life two months after their 2016 marriage, along with Ganjali Hamzei, 83, who died 43 days after their marriage.
Her first marriage took place when she was 18 years old with a man whom, according to her relatives, suffered from mental health problems.
Her second marriage was to a much older man, with whom she lived for years and reportedly endured beatings by her husband and stepsons.
After his death, she attended women’s gatherings, where she publicly spoke about her desire to marry elderly, lonely men.
“The defendant was skilled at covering her tracks,” prosecutors told the court. “Most of the victims appeared to have died of natural causes due to their age and chronic illnesses, allowing her to continue for decades without raising suspicion.”
Over 45 individuals have joined the case as plaintiffs.
The alleged killer faces 11 charges of premeditated murder and one charge of attempted murder.
Her defence argued that her mental health ought to be assessed.
But plaintiffs rejected the claim, with a family member reportedly stating: “Such a skillful plan that deceived many prominent families cannot be the work of an insane person.”
During the hearing on Wednesday in the Sari Revolutionary Court, the families of four victims demanded that Akbari be sentenced to death – a punishment legal in Iran since 1979.
A verdict is set to be announced after the final hearings have taken place.
The case has shocked the country, provoking widespread discussion and even inspiring a show on state TV that aired during Persian New Year holidays to create a character like her – though Akbari was not explicitly referenced.
Victims’ families said they were hurt that the case has become subject to memes and jokes on social media.
A family member of one victim said: “This incident was difficult and terrifying for us because the victims of this crime were our fathers.
“Now instead of witnessing swift justice and a thorough investigation of this case, we are seeing jokes that deepen our grief.”
It comes as Iran has executed a nuclear scientist accused of passing sensitive information to Israel’s Mossad amid an intensifying crackdown on alleged foreign spies.
Roozbeh Vadi reportedly worked as a nuclear expert at the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran.
Meanwhile, one of Iran’s longest-serving prisoners recently revealed how the execution rate has spiralled in the last month in a harrowing letter written behind bars.
Saeed Masouri, who has spent 25 years behind bars, wrote an emotional letter, which was smuggled out of the notorious Ghezel Hesar prison in Iran and shared with The Sun by Iran Human Rights Monitor.
Death penalty in Iran
Since 1979, the death penalty has been legal in Iran.
Over 200 acts – including murder, rape, adultery and sodomy – carry capital punishment.
The majority of people sentenced to death are convicted on drug trafficking charges.
The primary method of execution is hanging, with the condemned individual hung from a crane or a stool with a noose around their neck.
While executions most often take place in prison complexes, they can also occur publicly at the location of the crime.
Iran executed at least 901 people in 2024, according to the UN.
The year before, 853 people were reportedly executed – a number that accounted for 74 percent of all recorded executions worldwide, according to Amnesty International.
