Texas: Iranian Convert To Christianity Murdered, Police Investigate Possibility Of Foreign Assassination

Mohabat News – “Gelareh Bagherzadeh was an Iranian-born woman, newly converted to Christianity. She volunteered as a Persian-language translator at church and was about to graduate from university and had already found a job.

Why on earth would someone want to kill her?

That question has befuddled family, friends and police for five months, ever since Bagherzadeh, 30, was found in mid-January slumped over the steering wheel of her Nissan Altima steps from her home with a single gunshot wound to the head.

‘It’s a unique case,’ says Houston Police Sgt. J.C. Padilla, the lead investigator on the case. ‘It’s a senseless crime that happened to a young, intelligent female who had her future taken away from her. Someone out there knows what happened.’

The facts that nothing was stolen from her car and that Bagherzadeh was an outspoken activist against Iran’s Islamic theocracy, championed women’s rights in the Middle East and had recently converted from Islam to Christianity have spawned a host of theories about her murder (everything from an Iranian intelligence agency hit to claims of other foreign government involvement).

Police say they have found no evidence linking the killing to foreign assassins but are still investigating. In fact, they have no leads or suspects. Her family says that’s not enough, and they would like to see participation by federal investigators.

‘We believe she was targeted,’ says her father, Ebrahim Bagherzadeh. ‘Why or by whom? We don’t know.’…

Foreign-sanctioned assassinations — or attempts — on U.S. soil are rare but do happen, says Juan Zarate, a senior adviser with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies and former deputy national security adviser under President George W. Bush. He says Iran has been implicated in a number of them, but he does not know all the details of the Houston case to suggest Iranian involvement.” Read more.

Flashback: Islamic Militants Calling Themselves ‘The Unknown Soldiers of The Hidden Imam’ Threaten to Hunt Down and Execute Christians Who Flee Iran – “Islamic militants with suspected ties to Iranian security forces have been terrorizing evangelical Christians with threats to ‘repent’ or die, it was reported Sunday. Christian Solidarity Worldwide has reported that 11 Iranian Christians who fled Iran in the wake of a government campaign against Christianity have received threats via email to ‘repent’ or face extrajudicial execution, from a group identifying itself as the ‘The Unknown Soldiers of The Hidden Imam.’ The threatening emails that were sent to each individual on Sept. 14 aspired to extend the arm of Iranian Islamic militancy beyond the borders of Iran by implying that, although the recipients have left Iran, they have not escaped the ‘acute eyes of the unknown soldiers.’” Read more.