Houston man gets death for ‘honor killings’

A Houston jury Tuesday sentenced to death a Jordanian Muslim immigrant convicted of two honor killings. Last month, jurors found Ali Mahwood-Awad Irsan, 60, guilty of the 2012 shooting deaths of his daughter’s American husband, Coty Beavers, and his daughter’s best friend, Gelareh Bagherzadeh. Prosecuters said Irsan conspired to kill the two after his daughter, Nesreen Irsan, married Beavers and converted from Islam to Christianity. Bagherzadeh reportedly encouraged the marriage. Irsan testified in his own defense during sentencing, claiming he was a devoted father and that witnesses had lied. But his wife testified that Irsan plotted the killings to “clean his honor” and planned to kill his daughter. Irsan’s son, Nasim, who reportedly assisted his father, is awaiting trial on capital murder charges in the two deaths.