In 2000 and 2001 the Iran holy city of Mashhad was haunted by a prostitute killer dubbed 'The Spider Killer' that left his victims dumped in the city streets like garbage, strangled with their own headscarves. By the time police arrested Saeed Hanaei in Juy of 2001, nineteen women had been murdered, though three would eventually be attributed to copycat slayers.

Hanaei was finally caught after a potential victim managed to escape from the killer's home and led police back to him. Hanaei soon confessed to sixteen killings, claiming that they were in response to an incident in which a man propositioned Hanaei's wife, who he had mistaken for a prostitute. Essentially Hanaei said he felt he was cleaning up the streets and protecting his religion.

However, Hanaei soon admitted his true motivations. Posing as an average customer he would pick up his victims and take them home where he would sexually assault them before dispatching of them. That has not stopped many in the Middle East from lauding Hanaei as some sort of Islamic hero, however. Some press even called for Hanaei to be spared execution because he "did not spill the blood of innocents."

Saner minds prevailed thankfully, and Hanaei was hanged in a prison yard on April 16, 2002, with relatives of his victims in attendance.