AP

Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 48, of Glendale, AZ, is seen in an undated photo provided by the Peoria Police Dept. Almaleki, an Iraqi immigrant, is accused of killing his daughter because he allegedly believed she was too Westernized.

PHOENIX – Opening arguments are set to begin in Phoenix on Monday in the trial of an Iraqi immigrant accused of killing his daughter because he allegedly believed she was too Westernized.

Faleh Hassan Almaleki is accused of what prosecutors say was an October 2009 “honor killing” over his daughter’s behavior. He will go to trial after failing to reach a plea deal with prosecutors.

Police say Almaleki, 50, crashed his Jeep Laredo into his 20-year-old daughter, Noor Almaleki, and her boyfriend’s mother, as the two walked in a parking lot of a state Department of Economic Security office in Peoria, a Phoenix suburb.

The mother lived, but Noor was in a coma for two weeks before she died from her injuries.

Almaleki faces life in prison if a 12-member jury finds him guilty. He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault and leaving the scene of a serious injury accident.

The case caused nationwide outrage after prosecutors deemed it an “honor killing” because Almaleki had said his daughter dishonored his family and became too Westernized.

Faleh Almaleki moved his family from Iraq to the Phoenix suburb of Glendale in the mid-1990s.

He wanted Noor to adhere to Iraqi traditions, but she wanted to be a typical American girl, according to court records and her close friends.

When she was 17 she refused to enter an arranged marriage in Iraq, enraging her father, according to a court document filed by prosecutors.

She moved into her own apartment at 19 and began working at a fast-food restaurant, but quit after her parents kept showing up at her work, insisting she return home, the document said.

Later in 2009, she moved in with her boyfriend and his parents, Reikan and Amal Khalaf, after saying her parents had hit her.

The court document said Faleh Almaleki regularly harassed his daughter and the Khalafs, once telling Reikan Khalaf that if his daughter didn’t move out of their home, “something bad was going to happen.”

Noor Almaleki spotted her father on Oct. 20, 2009, when she and Amal Khalaf visited the Department of Economic Security office.

When the two women left the office, Faleh Almaleki hit them with his Jeep before fleeing the country, prosecutors said. Law enforcement caught up with him in London and returned him to Phoenix. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/01/23/opening-statement-begin-monday-arizona-honor-killing/#ixzz1Bv21Y0Mi