The former mayor of Tehran, who has been sentenced to death for murdering his second wife, has been pardoned by the victims family and will not be executed.

According to the attorney of the relatives of the victim Mitra Ostad, the family of Mohammad Ali Najafi's second wife has pardoned him.

Mohammad Ali Najafi shot his second wife at her home in a posh neighborhood of Tehran on May 28. The police found Ostad's body with several gunshots in her chest.

Hours later, Najafi surrendered himself to the police.

According to Iran's Islamic penal law, if a person has intentionally murdered or maimed another person, the victim (or victim's family) is entitled to retribution (Qisas or an "eye for an eye" in the case of personal injury or a life for a life in the case of murder).

However, the victim (victim's family) are entitled to forgive the perpetrator. If so, the victim (or their next of kin) may demand the perpetrator to pay blood money (diya) to compensate for the injury/death.

"We have forgiven Mr. Najafi, setting aside [the issue of] our beloved's blood, and we are contended for not bargaining over her blood," Ms. Ostad's brother, Massoud, also said on his Instagram account.

It means that Najafi will not be hanged and does not have to pay "blood money" to the relatives of his victim.

Blood money is cash or some other form of compensation paid by an offender (usually a murderer) to the family or relatives of the victim.

In the same post widely reflected in the local media, Massoud Ostad has also insisted that following mediation by the elders of the country and the city of Kermanshah (Ms. Ostad's parental home in western Iran), his family would not seek death punishment for Najafi.

An MIT graduate, 67-year-old Najafi was mayor of Tehran (August 27, 2017 – April 10, 2018) but resigned after threatening to disclose widespread financial corruption in the municipality under his predecessor, an Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) commander, General Mohammad Reza Qalibaf.