One of Iran’s greatest directors, Darius Merzoui, and his wife were stabbed to death yesterday, Saturday night, inside their residence near Tehran, the Iranian Judicial Authority announced today.

“During the preliminary investigation, we found that Darius Merjui and his wife, Walideh Mohammadifar, were killed with multiple stab wounds to the neck“, announced the head of the judiciary in Alborz province, near Tehran, Hossein Fazeli-Harikadi, as quoted by the Iranian justice news agency Mizan Online.

Aged 83, the filmmaker had directed “Cow” in 1969, one of the first films of the new wave of Iranian cinema.

In an interview published today by Etemad newspaper, the director’s wife had made it known that she had been threatened recently by a person and that strangers had broken into their residence.

“The investigation showed that no charges were filed for illegally entering the Merjui family’s mansion and stealing their property,” Fazeli-Harikadi added.

Darius Merzoui had directed, among others, the films “The cow” (1969), “The cycle” (1974), “The Tenants” (1987), “They lose” (1990), “Scree” (1993), “Leila» (1996).

From 1980 to 1985 the filmmaker lived in France, where he directed “The journey to the land of Rimbaud».