April 21, 2017
In a case of speedy justice, a man who murdered six people in a mass killing spree in January was hanged just 91 days after his crime.
The wheels of justice normally move slowly in the Islamic Republic, but when a case draws considerable public attention, the Judiciary can move with stunning swiftness.
The shooter had been arrested originally for a solitary murder. He was then bailed out of jail, got a rifle and went on a killing spree January 11, leaving six people dead.
Abbas Sahrai, 26, targeted two houses in the city of Arak in Markazi province—first, the home of the policeman who had arrested him and, second, the home of the man he is accused of having killed earlier.
The shooter and two other men were arrested last year and charged with murder. The shooter was released January 1 after paying bail of 2 billion rials ($50,000).
He waited 10 days before picking up a Kalashnikov rifle and heading to the home of the police officer who had arrested him. There he shot and killed the officer, his sister, mother and brother. Another relative was wounded and hospitalized.
Then the shooter went to the home of the man he was accused of killing last year. There he shot and killed the man’s parents and wounded a brother.
Within hours, police tracked him down and arrested him in Arak, the Mizan news agency said. The police said they had earlier arrested the shooter’s brother whom they believed had driven the shooter to the two homes and helped him get away.
The end came last Thursday. Sahrai was hanged publicly on a street near the sites of his murders, which is the norm in the Islamic Republic for crimes that draw great public attention.
Sahrai’s mass killing in January came just 20 days after another mass murder. In the first mass killing, another 26-year-old man went on another rampage with another Kalashnikov far to the south in Kerman.
On December 22, that man, a rejected suitor, attacked the family of the woman who had rejected his offer of marriage. First, he killed the woman he wished to marry, then he shot 14 other members of her family, killing nine.
Such mass killings are unheard of in Iran, although they occur with shocking regularity in the United States. However, Iran does have a history of spurned suitors turning to violence.