Mohammed Bijeh (21 May 1970 – 16 March 2005) was an Iranian serial killer. He was convicted of raping and killing 54 young boys between July 2002 and September 2004, and was sentenced to 100 lashes followed by execution. All the boys were between 8 and 15 years old. The murder of children around Tehran was recognized as the largest criminal case in contemporary Iranian history and strongly influenced public opinion in the country.

Biography

Muhammad Basjee, known as Bijeh, was born into a crowded family; he had six brothers and six half-brothers. When he was four years old, his mother died of cancer. His father was a merchant who married immediately after the death of Bijeh's mother. Bijeh couldn't remember his mother and said that his father was a barbaric person who beat him and chained his legs during childhood. His father forced him to abandon school and work. He was 11 when he moved to Khatunabad with his family, where he began working at a furnace. Around then, he was raped multiple times.

Motivation

He stated that he had been raped and wanted to take revenge on the community, and that he had suffered on account of his mother's early death and the lack of affection he suffered in childhood. Bijeh commented on his main motive for the murders: "I suffered cruelly from childhood, and when I compared my life with others, I had to commit such acts".

Victims

List of victims of Bijeh:

Arrest

Bijeh was arrested on 24 September 2004 and tried in Branch 74 of the Tehran Penal Code, under the presiding Judge Mansour Yavarzadeh Yeganeh and his four other lawyers, and by a majority of its judges. On 27 November 2004, he was sentenced to be executed. Bijeh said that if he were not arrested, he would kill 100 children. He said about his death sentence: "I do not deserve to be sentenced to death". Police arrested 16 of their officers in the handling of this case, and the judiciary also announced that Pakdasht prosecutors, as well as two investigators and a prosecutor's office, had filed a "brief" case.

Execution

On 16 March 2005, in Pakdasht, the town near the desert area where the killings occurred, in front of a crowd of about 5,000, Bijeh's shirt was removed, and he was handcuffed to an iron post, where he received his lashings from different judicial officials. He fell to the ground more than once during the punishment but did not cry out. A relative of one of the victims managed to get past security and stabbed Bijeh. The mother of one of the victims put a blue nylon rope around his neck, and he was hoisted about 10 metres in the air by a crane until he died.