Nine women report prolonged abuse by Iranian man they lived with in Marbella

A Marbella court is investigating allegations of psychological abuse and threats made by an Iranian businessman against nine women who lived with him in a mansion in the southern Spanish city.

The women, who filed the complaint jointly, say that they all had relationships with Soha S., while he claims that they were his employees.

The plaintiffs, who have various European and Central Asian nationalities, come from wealthy families, and some were enrolled at a London school of design.

While the investigation is still in its early stages, legal sources say that they are ruling out religious motives, and that the Málaga Institute of Legal Medicine will now seek to determine whether there was really an intimate relationship between the entrepreneur and the alleged victims.

They were free to come and go, but he decided when they had to be back home”

The women all lived in one of the luxury homes inside the Iranian entrepreneur’s estate, located in an exclusive residential area of Marbella. Soha S. lived by himself in a small palace, legal sources said.

There were also several members of staff living there, as well as a 10th woman who refused to file a complaint against Soha S.

The women are aged between 20 and 30, according to Sonsoles Rosales, the lawyer for six of them. Rosales also said that five children have been born out of the relationships.

After the complaint was lodged on March 27, the entrepreneur was arrested and the case transferred to a specialized court dealing in cases of violence against women. Soha S. faces preliminary charges of prolonged psychological abuse and occasional physical abuse. His house was searched by police.

The women also suspect that Soha S. drugged them so that he could abuse them

But sources have confirmed that this is going to be a “complicated” case.

“They remained in this situation out of fear,” says the lawyer. “They were free to come and go, but needed his prior authorization, and he decided when they had to be back home, whether they could travel or not, and if so when they had to return.”

If the women expressed a desire to leave, Soha S. would tell them that “they would never see their families again,” says Rosales. All of the women lived in a state of terror, she added.

Another lawyer for one of the women said that the businessman forced his victims to go back home to see their families and “pretend that everything was going well,” the news agency Europa Press reported. The women also suspect that Soha S. drugged them to abuse them.

This situation is alleged to have gone on for around four years.