VA ANKABOOT AMAD

Between July 2000 and 2001, 16 women were murdered in the Iranian holy city of Mashad. Because the victims were lured into the murderer's web like flies, the Iranian press soon talked about the 'spider killings'. All victims except one, had previously been arrested for prostitution and drug-related crimes. When the police arrested the perpetrator, a 39-year-old contractor, in July 2001, he said he had committed the murders out of a religious conviction. The Iranian director Maziar Bahari, maker of the film Football, Iranian Style, talked with relatives of both culprit and victims, as well as with Saeed Hanei, the murderer himself. He also interviewed one of the 5.000 local whores, for whom it usually does not take more than five minutes to find a customer. The conversations, interlarded with police photographs of the victims and street images, reveal the complexity of the Iranian society and the various powers at play. 'If the authorities don't do anything about these women, more Saeed Haneis will emerge', the murderer's son warns ominously.

"Bahari not only provides an incredibly insightful and revealing portrayal of a mass murderer, but more importantly, his film addresses some of Iran's most contentious societal problems, including prostitution, drug addiction and sexual inequality." Golnar Motevalli, The Iranian