Iranian activist Gelareh Bagherzadeh, 30
Coty Beavers
Ali Irsan in court on day 1 of his death penalty trial
Ali Irsan during his sentencing
Ali Irsan
Ali Irsan during an interview on death row
Capital murder charges filed in case involving death of Iranian activist
The Harris County District Attorney's office on Wednesday filed capital murder charges against a 57-year-old man accused in two killings, including the brazen 2012 slaying of an outspoken Iranian activist outside her parents' Galleria-area town home.
Ali Mahwood-Awad Irsan is charged in the killings of 30-year-old Gelareh Bagherzadeh and his son-in-law, 28-year-old Coty Beavers. Irsan's son, 21-year-old Nasim, is also charged with murder.
RELATED: Probe of Iranian student's slaying reopens earlier fatal shooting case
The charges end a three-year-long investigation into a case that captured headlines around the world and fueled conspiracy theories that the Iranian government was somehow involved. Crime Stoppers offered $200,000, its largest reward in history, for information in the case.
Then, last May, nearly a dozen federal and local law enforcement agencies arrested Irsan in a dramatic SWAT team raid of his home in Montgomery County. Irsan is the father of one of Bagherzadeh's closest friends with whom she had studied molecular genetics at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Family and friends say Irsan, who is from Jordan and a strict Muslim, blamed Bagherzadeh for encouraging his daughter to move out of his home and marry Beavers, a Christian. About 45 minutes after she was gunned down while turning into her parents complex in the 800 block of Augusta, state troopers stopped a silver car driven by Irsan.
He was with his wife and going from Houston to Conroe, where they lived, according to testimony in a related case. They were stopped for speeding and given a warning. Witnesses later told police they saw a silver car flee the scene of Bagherzadeh's killing.
Eleven months later, in November 2012, Irsan's son-in-law was also found dead, shot multiple times in the third-floor apartment he shared with Irsan's daughter. He'd told relatives and friends that if he was ever found dead, Irsan was to blame. Even after they had obtained a protective order against him, the father still showed up unannounced and harassed them in the middle of the night.
Montgomery County investigators have reopened the 1999 shooting of another of Irsan's son-in-laws.
According to his death certificate, Amjad Alidam was shot and killed by Irsan. At the time, the case was ruled self-defense.
But Irsan's daughter and Alidam's wife, Nesreen, later told police the shooting was staged.
According to a search warrant, Nesreen Irsan told investigators that her father lured Alidam to the family s home under false pretenses and then shot Alidam with a shotgun.
Nesreen Irsan said her father then fired a pistol into the wall and placed the gun near Alidam's body to make it appear that he threatened and fired at Irsan first.
Irsan has not been charged in that case but the investigation continues.
After his arrest in May, Irsan wasn't immediately charged with Bagherzadeh's murder or in Beavers' killing. Instead, Irsan, his 38-year-old wife, and 31-year-old daughter were charged with defrauding the government in a Social Security scam. The most significant part of the detailed 16-page complaint was one short paragraph calling Irsan a suspect in both killings. It noted that he had killed another son-in-law in 1999 in a slaying that was ruled self-defense.
In any normal fraud case, he'd likely long ago have walked out on bail. But Irsan was kept in solitary confinement until he was found guilty of the charges in early April. His wife and daughter pleaded guilty in March.
In February, Nasim also was arrested after allegedly dragging a donkey behind a pickup along a stretch of Old Houston Road in Montgomery County. He was charged with cruelty to livestock animals.
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-te...#photo-2939697
Bookmarks