Shah of Iran's younger son kills himself in US

[Afshin]

BBC - The younger son of the Shah of Iran, Alireza Pahlavi, has killed himself in the US after a long battle with depression, his family says.

His brother, former crown prince Reza Pahlavi, said the family had been thrown into "great sorrow" by the news.

"It is with immense grief that we would like to inform our compatriots of the passing away of Prince Alireza Pahlavi," a family statement said.

Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was ousted in Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.

Alireza Pahlavi was 44. He was found by police dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Boston Globe reported.

"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," the family statement read.

Alireza Pahlavi had studied philology and ancient Iranian studies at Harvard University in Massachusetts. He had also studied at Columbia University in New York.

Leila Pahlavi, the late shah's daughter, died in 2001 in a London hotel room aged 31. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi died in Egyptian exile in 1980.

[dashali]

One of my friend just called me and told me...wow,,,very sad...

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/7YbluJbcDxw&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/7YbluJbcDxw&rel=1</a>

Roohesh shad...
Rest In Peace 

[Afshin]

That's two of Shah's four children committed suicide.  I am not a monarchist but I find this very sad indeed.  The Pahlavi family are still Iranian and clearly miss Iran.  With all the money they had they could have just gone and enjoyed life and stayed out of media attention.

The shah did incalculable damage to Iran's democratic movement by toppling Mossadegh in 1953 with CIA backing, but the question is, was removing the Shah in 1979 in the interest of Iran? And is Iran a better country today than it was under the Shah?  We will never know this and we will never know what Iran would have been like today had Mossadegh not been removed by military Coup.

[Afshin]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/KiolCsORp5k&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/KiolCsORp5k&rel=1</a>

[ali_europe]

Shah was a dictator and did lot of crimes, but his children specially the young ones like Leila or Ali-Reza were little kids, when they left IRAN and they can't be blamed for their dad crimes... therefore it is for sure a sad news... whatever the reasons might be