HOUSTON (AP) — A Jordanian immigrant could face the death penalty after a Texas jury convicted him of two slayings described by prosecutors as “honor killings.”
Ali Mahwood-Awad Irsan (Photo: Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle)
Prosecutors say Ali Mahwood-Awad Irsan was enraged when his daughter left home and converted to Christianity, so he orchestrated the killings of his son-in-law and his daughter’s friend who had encouraged the marriage.
Irsan’s trial lasted five weeks, but jurors deliberated for just 35 minutes Thursday before convicting him in the deaths of Coty Beavers and Gelareh Bagherzadeh. Sentencing will begin Friday and Irsan faces life in prison or the death penalty.
Irsan denied any involvement in the deaths but said his daughter caused his family pain after marrying Beavers, who was Christian. Bagherzadeh was an Iranian women’s rights activist who was Irsan’s daughter’s close friend.
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