The United States has more wrongful convictions than any country in the world. The state of Texas has a disproportionately high incarceration rate , with the highest inmate population in the US. Many of them are victims of wrongful conviction . This is the story of one of them , a man who has been incarcerated for the last 8 years for a crime he didn’t commit and needs your help , please see the bottom of this petition for more ways you can take action !

Who is Nasim Irsan , and what happened ?

In 2019, Nasim Ali Irsan was convicted of the 2012 murder of Gelareh Bagherzadeh in Houston, Texas. He was charged with murder and sentenced to 40 years , being eligible for parole after 20 years . This is taking into account time already served, since he was arrested in 2015.

While this case is extremely tragic and my heart goes out to the young woman who lost her life , Nasim’s story is tragic in itself . Nasim’s father, Ali, is the one who is responsible for both the murders of his daughter’s best friend Gelareh, and his son-in-law Coty Beavers . Ali Irsan was already in prison for both murders , and is now on death row .

Nasim ended up being investigated for the murder because of a phone call to his father that was taken horrendously out of context. Out of a phone call that was about 30 mins long , a short snippet lasting only about 20 seconds was taken out of context in regards to the contents of the rest of the phone call . Nothing that Nasim said in the phone call can be remotely considered a murder confession . He has stated himself that he was feeling guilty because he knew that his dad committed the murders and didn’t say anything , and that’s what he had meant when he admits to being a “bad man” on the phone call . Nobody could have reasonably expected a terrified 18 year old at the time to turn his abusive father into the police , especially when it could have caused him to be killed himself ! Nasim stated that he’s been shot and stabbed by his dad before , there’s no telling that he wouldn’t have harmed his own son for reporting him .

Why did Nasim end up being charged with the murder ?

Trial Penalty:

The trial penalty refers to the discrepancy between the sentence originally presented to a defendant before their trial , and the shorter sentence they are offered only if they plead guilty. The trial penalty is extremely pervasive in the US, with only 3% of criminal cases ever going to trial. The trial penalty is a violation of the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees the right to a fair trial . 

Nasim was a victim of the trial penalty. He had no choice but to plead guilty because his only options were either life without parole, or the death penalty . He desperately wanted to fight his case and tell the truth , but his lawyer bullied him into pleading guilty and made him feel that he had no other options . Even after firing that lawyer from his case in 2017, the judge allowed the same lawyer to represent him in his 2019 trial , against Nasim’s wishes . He also was not able to afford another lawyer.

Coerced confession: The other factor that caused Nasim to plead guilty is that his brother and his brother’s lawyer orchestrated this plan to make him memorize a false story and recite it to a private investigator, telling him that if he did so he would only receive a 10-20 year sentence and would probably only have to serve half of that time . Despite the fact that the story wasn’t believable and Nasim clearly didn’t know the details of the case properly , he was still convicted. Unfortunately if you plead guilty to a crime in the United States , it’s rarely ever questioned . He regrets his decision not to go to trial, but he was scared at the time and felt this was the best option for him .

False testimonies:

• His mother: Had spent hours being coached by the FBI to falsely testify against her son . They admitted to her that there was no physical evidence against him , and that her testimony was the only thing that could put him away . She ended up taking the plea deal and testifying against him , to reduce her own charge from murder down to kidnapping .
• His brother:  Also falsely testified against him in an attempt to save their dad from death row. His credibility should be seriously called into question because he also accused Nasim of the murder of Coty Beavers, yet he was not convicted of that murder . His brother is also severely in denial that his father ever abused his kids , however multiple accounts from the other siblings state that they were abused . 
• His cousin:  Ahmed Garcia , also admitted on the stand to testifying against him so he could stay in America with his kids  , as he was facing deportation for a felony domestic violence charge. Mr. Garcia also does not have a strong grasp of English , and denied the court’s offer to provide him with an Arabic interpreter.

What are the facts that prove Nasim’s innocence?

1. Gelareh’s neighbours were able to identify Nasim’s parents at the crime scene , but they did not identify Nasim . If Nasim was really the one who pulled the trigger,  how would they be able to see his parents and not him ? The official story is that Nasim allegedly got out of the car and shot Gelareh point blank through the car window . Certainly someone would have seen him if they were able to see his parents !
2. The police video from the night of the murder does not prove he was there . When his parents were pulled over for speeding , it shows that there is a “young man” in the backseat . It was just assumed to be Nasim without any proof.
3. Nasim’s brother Nile Irsan actually testified under oath that he was the one in the car that night , and their father testified the same .
4. The murder weapon was found at the Irsan family home , and Nasim’s prints were not identified on it .
5. The court , judge, prosecutor and lawyer did not believe the false story that Nasim gave to the private investigator and it was thrown away and not used as evidence against him . The fabricated story was not believable and he clearly didn’t understand the details of the murder. However , he was still convicted just because he plead guilty and his mom and brother testified against him
6. Nasim’s dad had committed 2 other murders , one 13 years before the murder of Gelareh , and one about 10 months later (the Coty Beavers murder ). It’s a little known fact that Ali Irsan had shot and killed another son in law in 1999, but he was not convicted because he claimed self defense . If Ali had shown himself capable of committing 2 other murders on his own , why in the world would he need his 18 year old son to commit a murder for him ?!

Why would they want to falsely convict Nasim ?

The court thought that Nasim’s brother and father were lying to protect him . They were swayed by harmful stereotypes based on the widely held perception that in the Arab/Muslim culture (the family is Jordanian-American) it is always the oldest son who is expected to be the foot soldier of the father and blindly obey him at all times . They couldn’t fathom that Nasim wasn’t involved in the murder .

The state of Texas wants to make an example of anyone who (they thought ) committed an “honour killing “ . There was already extreme public outcry after the infamous Abdel Said family honour killings committed 4 years prior (also in Houston), in 2008. Since the term “honour killings “ was thrown around in connection to the Bagherzadeh/Beavers murders , the perception of the case has been greatly tainted by racism and Islamophobic fear-mongering. Let’s also bear in mind that Texas has the highest incarceration rate of any US state and is notorious for their “tough on crime “ stance ! Texas prisons also have contracts with private companies to use inmates as forced labour to manufacture a wide variety of commercial goods. The inmates are not paid for their labour , and will lose privileges if they refuse to “work”. More bodies in prison is obviously better for their bottom line , and able-bodied young men make preferable labourers (explaining why they would want Nasim in prison rather than his mother , a middle-aged woman who’s given birth to 8 children).

What needs to happen next ?

My desired outcome for this case is that Nasim is freed from prison and exonerated of the false charges against him. He has had his life destroyed and has already spent 8 years in prison because he ended up as part of the 2-10% of Americans who are wrongfully convicted. Anyone who has seen Nasim’s episode on Netflix’s “I am a Killer” (season 4 , episode 4) should be able to see a greatly broken young man who’s been troubled by his abusive upbringing and the devastating impact that being falsely accused of this crime has had on him , he certainly does not strike the viewer as a cold-blooded “killer”.

Take Action!

• Sign this petition and share it with your network!
• Donate to Nasim’s legal fund! https://givesendgo.com/FreeNasimIrsan
• Follow us on Instagram : @freenasimirsan!
• Send an email demanding Nasim's wrongful conviction to be overturned! (Template and recepients already filled in) https://actionnetwork.org/letters/demand-the-release-of-nasim-irsan?clear_id=true

Let justice prevail , don’t let another innocent man rot in prison !

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