1. Ali Mahmood Awad Irsan is a Jordanian-American convicted murderer held on Texas death row.
36 Facts About Ali Irsan
1. 2.
Ali Irsan was sentenced for the murders of Iranian-American activist Gelareh Bagherzadeh, a friend of one of his daughters; and his son-in-law, Coty Beavers, in Greater Houston.
3.
Ali Irsan was born to a father in the Jordanian Army.
4.
Ali Irsan lived on a 3-acre property in a rural area, in unincorporated eastern Montgomery County, Texas, near Conroe.
5.
Ali Irsan stated in court filings that he studied in a medical program at a tertiary institution in Jordan, and he stated that he had a Houston Community College "diploma of auto-mechanic".
6.
In federal court, Ali Irsan stated that he married her in Jordan but that he did not legally marry her in the United States.
7.
In 1999, Irsan killed Amjad Hussein Alidam, the husband of Nasemah Rachelle Irsan, Irsan's eldest daughter, at Irsan's residence.
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Ali Irsan never received criminal charges in that case, as area law enforcement believed him to be innocent.
9.
Ali Irsan studied biology in Tehran and later attended university in Budapest, Hungary, before moving to Houston in 2007 to join her parents, who bought a house near Uptown Houston so she could live there; this residence was within the Woodway Point townhomes, where a nearby street would become the site of her death.
10.
Ali Irsan participated in the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests that were held in Houston and protested against the Al-Hadi Mosque, which she accused of being connected to the Iranian government.
11.
Ali Irsan had earlier told his daughters that they were not allowed to date.
12.
Ali Irsan learned about Nesreen's relationship with Beavers while he was in Jordan with his son.
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Ali Irsan escaped through a window and went to join Beavers at his residence, then at his mother's house in Spring.
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However, beginning around fall 2011, Irsan began to harass Nesreen, Coty Beavers, and Bagherzadeh, and the group experienced acts of vandalism against their property.
15.
Ali Irsan had an assault rifle in case he needed self-defense.
16.
Nesreen told authorities that Ali Irsan had committed fraud related to Social Security.
17.
Ali Irsan possessed multiple fraudulent credit cards, some under false names and some in the names of family members.
18.
The AUSA assigned federal prosecutors Jim McAlister and Mark McIntyre, Irsan was represented by attorney John Floyd.
19.
Ali Irsan was initially charged with conspiracy to commit welfare fraud in a continuing scheme, to defraud the United States, and to commit theft of public money over $1,000.
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Ali Irsan was sentenced to 45 months confinement and a fine of $290,651 by Judge Lynn Hughes.
21.
Ali Irsan was given a warning and allowed to leave after he stated he was trying to get a drink to deal with a diabetic condition.
22.
Authorities had questioned Ali Irsan, as Nesreen had stated he was a culprit, but authorities did not keep him in custody as they lacked sufficient evidence.
23.
Ali Irsan had entered the apartment while it was unlocked and stayed inside while Beavers was with Nesreen; Beavers went with her to her car, before she drove away to her workplace, around 5:45am Irsan shot him after Beavers re-entered the house.
24.
Ali Irsan was in hiding inside a bedroom before he killed his victim, with five or more bullets.
25.
On May22,2014, the day Ali Irsan was arrested on federal fraud charges, Harris County prosecutors announced that Ali Irsan was being charged for Bagherzadeh's murder.
26.
Ali Irsan's lawyers stated that he had no connection to either murder and the circumstances of the murders were not known.
27.
Nadia Ali Irsan received charges accusing her of stalking her sister, a felony of the third degree; the maximum possible sentence, if convicted, would be 10 years.
28.
The prosecutors sought the death penalty against Ali Irsan, making it the first death penalty prosecution in Houston in 2018, and the first death penalty case during the tenure of Kim Ogg, the Harris County district attorney since January1,2017.
29.
Two younger sisters of Ali Irsan flew from Jordan to the US to testify in his favor.
30.
Two sons of Ali Irsan testified in favor of their father.
31.
Prosecutors presented a witness who accused Irsan of boasting about murdering Alidam without consequence in 1999.
32.
Nesreen testified that Ali Irsan used severe corporal punishment, and that he praised the September 11,2001, attacks and suicide bombings while living in the United States.
33.
Ali Irsan refused a potential plea deal, which involved the stalking charge being dropped.
34.
In 2021, Nadia Ali Irsan agreed to plead guilty to conspiring in a scheme of organized crime, and got ten years of probation as part of "deferred adjudication".
35.
Brian Rogers of the Houston Chronicle stated that experts considered the case to be unusual because usually only the offending woman is killed in an honor killing, and that the Ali Irsan affair increased attention given to honor killings in the United States.
36.
Ali Irsan's parents sold their Houston house and moved to Maryland, where their eldest son lived.