A prominent attorney, Hamid Hajian was shot dead with at least three bullets on Wednesday evening, April 24, in the garage of a building in Tehran's affluent northern neighborhood of Kamranieh.
Hajian 41 reportedly was once the attorney of several Iranian tycoons accused of "financial corruption," including Hossein Hedayati a billionaire businessman, notorious for his investments in soccer clubs in Iran. He has been on trial for "disrupting the economic order" and "financial corruption." Hajian, was gunned down only hours after a verdict was issued against his former outspoken client.
A female companion, said to be his 25-year old wife was injured in the attack.
Hossein Hedayati, 56, gained popularity among a large group of soccer fans in Iran, after joining the board of directors at Persepolis F.C. and generously poured vast sums of money into the coffers of the famous "Red Jerseys" of the capital city, Tehran.
A former member of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Hedayati is also the owner of Steel Azin F.C., since 2007.
The Iranian premier division has sixteen teams, almost all of them either owned or run by former IRGC commanders.
Hours before, Hajian's mysterious assassination, the head of Branch 3 of the Special Courts for Economic Corruption had announced that a part of the verdict against Hedayati has been issued.
Earlier during a court hearing session, Hedayati had mentioned Hajian by name, claiming, "Go after Hamid Hajian who is an influential attorney and pocketed 500 billion rials (about $12 million) of my money."
Immediately after Hajian's murder the tycoon's current lawyer, Siamak Modir Khorasani told the IRGC-run news agency, Fars, that there was no connection between the murder and the verdict against his client.
Local media reported that the CCTV system of the garage where Hajian was gunned down, was out of order at the time of the deadly shooting.