Her last appointment is set to be with the executioner.
Kolthoum Akbari, a convicted serial spouse-killer dubbed Iran’s “Black Widow,” has been sentenced to death after authorities said a string of marriages over roughly 20 years ended with at least 10 husbands dead.
Akbari, 56, admitted to much of the grim toll, the public relations office in Mazandaran Province told Iranian state media last Sunday.
Officials have not confirmed the full number of former husbands who died, but they said the figure could reach a dozen or more. Only one of her spouses is believed to have survived.
Investigators said many of the victims were poisoned or incapacitated with rubbing alcohol, sedatives and other medications. Authorities suspect financial gain was the motive, alleging Akbari took gold, cash and other dowry assets from the men she married.
Her alleged killing spree came to an end in 2023 after the death of her 82-year-old husband, Gholamreza Babaei, authorities said.
Before he died, Babaei reportedly told relatives that Akbari had been forcing him to take medication. He passed away soon afterward, according to Iranian media reports.
“I don’t know how many I killed. Maybe it was 13 or 15 people. I don’t remember exactly. I’d drug them and then use a towel,” she said in a confession last year, according to the Telegraph.
Ten families opted for qisas, Iran’s eye-for-an-eye punishment, while at least one family agreed to accept blood money — diya — rather than a sentence, as proscribed in Islamic Sharia law.
Her cruel method was to obtain “temporary” marriages, known as sigheh – contractural relationships in Iran that include a dowry and a set period of marriage – with the elderly men before drugging them.
Her poison of choice ranged from ordinary meds like those to treat diabetes, industrial alcohol that she sneaked into drinks, and sedatives, according to Iranian media and Saudi-based Iran International.
Born in the village of Malekabad, Akbari divorced her first husband, according to Iranian site Faraz Daily. The site said she confessed to killing her second husband, a man named Alijan, reportedly telling his family members she had endured beatings in the past, and confessed to pouring industrial alcohol into his mouth and suffocating him. Victims were spread around various towns, which kept her from being discovered.
The court handed down 10 death sentences and years for the attempted murder.
Victims’ families have until the end of the month to seek an appeal, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Another Iranian serial killer, Mahin Qadiri, was executed in 2006 after being convicted of killing five women.
The looming state execution, usually done by hanging in Iran, comes after the UN and other human rights groups have repeatedly admonished the country for killing political prisoners – Akbari is not one of them – including killing 56 people on dubious national security charges since March.
