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Son of Iran's Late Shah Commits Suicide

Alireza Pahlavi shot himself in Boston home
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Suggested by kokuaguy
Posted Jan 4, 2011 5:45 PM CST
Son of Iran's Late Shah Commits Suicide
A 2005 file photo of Alireza Pahlavi.   (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, Pool, File)

The youngest son of the late shah of Iran killed himself in his Boston home this morning, his family says. Alireza Pahlavi, 44, apparently shot himself, reports the Globe. “Like millions of young Iranians, he too was deeply disturbed by all the ills fallen upon his beloved homeland, as well as carrying the burden of losing a father and a sister in his young life," said a family statement. It refers to his sister Leila, who died of a drug overdose in 2001. Pahlavi's father, an American ally, was overthrown in 1979 and died the following year in exile in Egypt.

A family friend says Alireza Pahlavi never recovered from the death of his sister and that his depression "grew over time," reports AP. He had studied music and history at Princeton, then did postgraduate work at Harvard. He kept a relatively low-key profile, unlike his brother Reza Pahlavi, a US attorney who frequently speaks out against the Iran regime. Click for more on Alireza Pahlavi.
(More shah stories.)

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