"The Black Widow of Iran": The story of serial killer Kulsum Akbari
Kulsum Akbari used to marry elderly men and, according to her conviction, killed them using drugs she put into drinks and in some cases by strangulation. According to Iranian media, the motive was money, assets, and inheritances. She has now been sentenced to 10 separate death penalties for ten murders.
Kulsum Akbari, who earned the nickname "The Black Widow of Iran," was sentenced to ten separate death penalties after being convicted of murdering ten men. This was announced yesterday, Sunday, by the judicial system in the Mazandaran province in northern Iran. Akbari, who was arrested in 2023, admitted during her interrogation to involvement in the deaths of 11 men, after having spent years marrying elderly men and bringing about their deaths after a short period.
According to reports in Iranian media, Akbari used, among other things, blood pressure medication that she dissolved in tea and drinks she served to her husbands. In some cases, she is suspected of also using pillows to suffocate them. The motive attributed to her was economic: money designated for her as part of the marriage, alongside the assets and inheritances of her husbands.
The first suspicion: the death of the 82-year-old husband
The case was exposed in September 2023, following the death of her last husband, an 82-year-old man. At first, it was believed he died of a heart attack, but his children suspected the circumstances of his death and turned to the police.
Akbari, who was 56 at the time, married the elderly man in a temporary marriage, with reports stating that a sum of five billion rials was set for her as part of the marriage. A few months later, the man began to suspect her behavior.
Days before his death, he told his children that Akbari was forcing him to take heart and blood pressure medication and that after drinking beverages she prepared for him, he would lose consciousness. Shortly thereafter, he died, and his children filed a complaint against Akbari on suspicion of murder.
Police opened an investigation, and after findings were collected that linked her to his death, Akbari was arrested. However, the investigation that began following the death of the 82-year-old revealed a much broader affair.
The investigation revealed a series of husbands who died
During her interrogation, Akbari admitted to involvement in the deaths of 11 men. Investigators discovered that over about 22 years, she had 13 husbands who died.
Her victims were mostly elderly men, some of them 75 years old or older. According to the investigation, Akbari used to marry them, sometimes in temporary marriages, and after a period of a few months, poison them using drugs she put into food or drinks.
According to the statement from the judicial system in Mazandaran province, the court sentenced Akbari to ten separate death penalties for ten murders for which she was convicted.
