Iranian women's activist shot dead in Houston

(CBS/AP) 

HOUSTON - A woman whom Houston police described as an activist on behalf of Iranian women's civil rights was found shot dead at the wheel of her car after it crashed into a Houston townhouse garage.

Police are reviewing surveillance video from the area Wednesday.

The car was still running when police found the body of Gelareh Bagherzadeh, 30, behind the wheel about 12:30 a.m. Monday in a posh townhouse development about a mile west of Interstate 610, Officer J.C. Padilla said.

"When the officer arrived, the car's tires were still spinning. He had to reach in and turn off the motor," he told KPRC-TV of Houston

Bagherzadeh apparently was talking on the phone with an ex-boyfriend when she was shot, police Homicide Sgt. Richard Bolton said.

"He heard a loud thud — doesn't recall hearing any gunshots, but a loud thud — and then a screeching noise. He said it sounded like someone driving away," Bolton told CBS affiliate KHOU-TV of Houston.

Bolton said police have questioned the ex-boyfriend but he is not a person of interest in the case.

Bagherzadeh was a molecular genetic technology student at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. She also was active in promoting Iranian women's rights, police spokesman Victor Senties said.

"It appears she was one of the ones who would be out protesting, and she was very well known in the Iranian women's rights community because she was constantly out protesting," Senties told the Houston Chronicle.

Senties said it was unclear whether her death was related to her background or her activities. Bolton said investigators suspect the victim was followed home or that someone was waiting for her.

Bagherzadeh's purse and cellphone were inside the vehicle.

"She has no enemies," Bolton said. "She was a very caring and loving person."

[teapartydoc]

Remember how the KGB used to track down and kill defectors? The Mohametans aren't as clean. At least the KGB made it look like an accident or a suicide. These dudes just walk up and shoot you. Time for some deportations based on looks and connections.

[Omar2110]

Wow, looks like we've got a couple of hez-nazis hangin' out on the thread cheering the assassin. Aren't those mujaheddin brave! Killing young female human right's activists must be a new pinnacle of glory for the "Islamic Republic." . . . But really there's SO much to admire about a shia theocracy - it's hard to know where to start; Gender aparteid? forced veiling? concubinage? halal wife beating? death for apostates, blasphemers and homosexuals? permanent dhimmitude for non-muslims and NO meaningful legal protections for those who don't qualify as dhimmis (like the bahai) amounting to murder with impunity? perpetual jihad against the kuffar? rank, genocidal jew hatred? paedophelic marriage for girls starting at age 9 (per the exanmple of Mohammad)? temporary marriage rackets in which the mullahs get to be the rotating pimps?It's all so holy and beautiful in that "special" islamic way. . . . Where to begin?.

[smittyc]

Boyfriend did not hear a gunshot. Sounds like a silencer was used. The lady was Iranian and a women's rights activist. Sounds like Shariah law to me. Since a federal judge ruled Oklamahomas law pertaining to Shariah law illegal and gives Islam the right to worship as they please I don't understand why the police are looking for anybody. The police are wasting their time, the muslim worshiper will be protected by the cleric and the mosque and disappear. My suggestion for the police is round up the usual suspect, but don't do anything to them. They will be needed again and again until these Iranian women finally realize that Shariah law will be obeyed by all who are born to Islam. Further hats off to that lady federal judge who ruled against the Oklahoma law that banned Shariah law. Shariah law permits the killing of anyone who challenges Islam beliefs. Oh well these things happen, what can you do.

[burtwoody]

Iranian agents are running loose in this country! She represented a threat to the Iranians so they took her out. She was assassinated pure and simple. Good job CIA!

[burtwoody]

Iranian agents are running loose in this country! She represented a threat to the Iranians so they took her out. She was assassinated pure and simple. Good job CIA!

[Patrickdh10]

A brilliant Iranian activist shot by cowards. Looks like Iranian agents are running loose and these agents are not necessarily from Iran. These people are merciless and without morals and have the utmost disdain for our laws. So lets call this what it is. Pre-meditated murder by foreign agents. Time to put a cap on them before they cause more harm.

[formerlyluvnut]

No enemies??? I think otherwise! Anyway, if she wants to be an activist she should do it in her own backyard, not here in America.

[MichaelPasha1939]

She is an activist HERE, because she CAN be...in her own country, the'd kill her.

[Blackandtandog]

Very likely a local radical (read psychopathic) muslim. We have let hundreds of thousands of them into our country. This is a huge and growing problem. But actually under sharia law, assuming the perpetrator was a male, he had the legal right to kill her for "insulting" islam.

[Overruled1]

Sharia law does not have jurisdiction in the U.S.
Nobody should expect to be protected with it.
Here, insulting Islam is not a crime. I insult all religions anyhow since they are all false anyway.

[bradkt1]

I don't know if there is a connection, but the timing is very interesting...given that this comes on the heels of the latest assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist in Iran.

If this hit was sanctioned by a group in Iran, it would be a significant escalation of hostilities to have carried out an assassination of a political dissident on U.S. soil. As far as I can recall, there hasn't been one carried out by a foreign government since the Letelier assassination in Washington, D.C. in the late 1970s.

I am not saying that Iran did this, but I wouldn't put this past Iran either.

[eiddam]

I'm sure the natives of this land thought the same about the liiegal Foreign invaders as some are thinking of others invading this land. Why is it a country that claims to be Cristians harbor as much hate as the ones claimed to hate ? Ninety percent of the crimes in this country is being done by our own, from shootings robberies, muggings, home invasions, and such. The hate sprewed out by the Beck, Rush, type encourage this kind of hate. Go back in history from the natives Indians, to the Irish, Italians, Jews, Japanese, and so on, hate has took charge, ...and the supposed christians have let it happen.

[Underdogus2011]

I agree.....100%