Kolsum Akbari, 56, convicted of murdering 12 elderly men over two decades through temporary marriages, was sentenced to ten death sentences, according to Iranian media reports. Iranian law allows each victim's family to forgive the killer for blood money, with one family already reaching a settlement.
Kolsum Akbari, known in Iranian media as the 'Black Widow', was sentenced on Monday to ten separate death sentences for the murders of elderly men she married through the Shiite practice of temporary marriage (sigheh). According to Iranian reports, Akbari confessed to killing 12 men over approximately 20 years by poisoning them with medications or dissolving drugs in their drinks. The court issued ten sentences because one victim's family has already reached a financial settlement with the defendant, a mechanism under Iranian law that allows families to forgive the killer in exchange for 'blood money' (diyeh). Other families have reportedly requested compensation instead of execution. The case highlights Iran's controversial legal system, which permits temporary marriage and applies qisas (retributive) justice in murder convictions.
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