TEHRAN – Former Tehran mayor Mohammad Ali Najafi has been sentenced to death for murdering his wife, Judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Esmaeili announced on Tuesday.

Speaking at a press conference, Esmaeili said Najafi was convicted of murdering his wife, Mitra Ostad, with a handgun and was sentenced to death for his crime, Tasnim reported.

The sentence is open to appeal.

Najafi, 67, appeared in court on July 13 for the first time to stand trial.

Ostad was found dead at her home in Tehran on May 28 with gunshots in her chest. A few hours later, Najafi surrendered himself to the Criminal Police and confessed to killing his wife, citing family quarrels for the murder.

Najafi, a senior member of the Servants of Construction Party, was elected mayor of Tehran in August 2017, but resigned in April 2018 for what he called poor health conditions.

He had also served as deputy president under Mohammad Khatami and Hassan Rouhani, and as education minister under Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

During his Tuesday press conference, Esmaeili also announced that Mohammad Hadi Razavi has been sentenced to 20 years in prison and 74 lashes for disrupting the country’s economy.

Razavi is the son-in-law of Labor Minister Mohammad Shariatmadari.

He had been charged with embezzlement and “disruption of the economy” after receiving 2.11 trillion rials (around $51m) in loans from banks, which he has failed to pay back.

MH/PA