Behrooz Araz

Behrooz Araz was the 17-year-old son of Navi Araz and Dina Araz, terrorists who immigrated to the United States five years prior to the beginning of Season 4 and were instrumental in the first three phases of a series of terrorist attacks planned by terrorist Habib Marwan.

Background
Little is known about the Araz family prior to their immigration to the States. None of the characters speak a language other than English, and while actors Jonathan Ahdout and Shohreh Aghdashloo (who portray Behrooz and Dina) are of Persian descent, Nestor Serrano (Navi Araz) is of Hispanic descent. A terrorist connected to their cell is at one point said to be "out of Ankara," and actor Arnold Vosloo (who portrays Season 4 terrorist mastermind Habib Marwan) stated in an interview in 24Inside that the show's writers told him Marwan was Turkish, so it could be presumed that the Araz family are also Turkish, though this is never confirmed in the show.

There is some evidence that Behrooz may have been abused and/or controlled by his parents. During an argument with his father in Day 4 7:00am-8:00am, Navi states "I listen to your phone calls, I read your e-mail" (the latter of which seems to surprise Behrooz). He also strikes Behrooz on the face several times during the show, and after Behrooz deviates from his parents plans, Navi ultimately attempts to murder him.

Day 4
Following the train crash orchestrated by the Season 4 terrorists to recover a briefcase containing a device that can cause the meltdown of every nuclear power plant in the country (known as the override device), the briefcase is delivered to the Araz home, where Behrooz is to take it to the compound where Secretary of Defense James Heller is being held captive. At the same time, Behrooz is encoutnering a rift with his parents over his American girlfriend, Debbie Pendleton. He lies and insists that he's not seeing her, but she calls before he leaves and Dina answers the phone. Behrooz tells Debbie that he's busy and can't talk, before leaving to deliver the briefcase.

Once he delivers the briefcase, however, he sees that Debbie has followed him to the compound. He tells her that his parents don't want him to go out with her, but that he still does, and she agrees to leave, but not before one of terrorists at the compound spots them talking.

This terrorist presumably calls Navi, who confronts Behrooz about the altercation when he arrives home. Behrooz claims Debbie didn't see anything, but Navi tells him to call her and get her to come to their house. Desperate for a way out, Behrooz asks Dina to talk Navi out of it. Navi leaves the house, and when Dina calls him, she simply says she'll "take care of it." She tells Behrooz he doesn't have to bring Debbie over, but invites the girl over herself.

While Debbie is over, Dina gives her tea and asks her about what she saw when she followed Behrooz. Debbie tells her that she hasn't told anyone about what she saw, and Dina goes into the other room to call Navi. They decide Behrooz should kill her, and Dina calls Behrooz into the other room and hands him a gun. Behrooz attemps to save Debbie by getting her out of the house, but she collapses and dies before they can leave - Dina, having predicted Behrooz would not shoot the girl, had poisoned the tea. She takes the gun from Behrooz and shoots Debbie's body to make it appear as though Behrooz had killed her.

Navi returns to the house, and seems to accept that Behrooz killed Debbie. They are briefly interuppted by Debbie's worried mother, but manage to convince her that they haven't seen Debbie. After this, Dina leaves to make sure Debbie's mother doesn't go to the police, while Navi sends Behrooz to bury the body with a terrorist associate, Tariq.

While they are digging, Behrooz notices Tariq is carrying a gun, and suspecting that Tariq means to kill him, as well, hits Tariq with his shovel and knocks the gun away. Behrooz demands to know why Marwan - who he knows is Tariq's superior and believes gave the kill order - wants him dead, but Tariq says the order didn't come from Marwan. Behrooz hits him with the shovel until Tariq reveals who put out the hit - Navi. Shocked and angry, Behrooz hits Tariq with the shovel repeatedly, screaming "No!" until Tariq is dead, then drops the shovel and takes Tariq's car.

Behrooz desperately calls Dina for help, telling her Navi wants him dead. Dina tells him to meet her at a train station. Though Dina appears to arrive alone, she tells Behrooz Navi has followed them. Navi and his men shoot at the car, hitting Dina in the arm, but Behrooz gets in and manages to maneuver the car from the passenger seat, getting them safely away.

Dina and Behrooz wander, stopping briefly at an emergeny medical center but leaving when a doctor calls the police about the suspicious gunshot wound. They make it to a hotel, where Behrooz leaves Dina to go to nearby hopsital where Dina's brother, Naseem, works as a pharmacist. Behrooz hopes that Naseem will give him pain medication for his mother, but Naseem tells him to wait and calls Navi. Navi tells Naseem to keep Behrooz there, and drives over.

Shortly before Navi arrives, Behrooz receives a call from his mother - government agents have found her, and agreed to make a deal to pardon him if she gives them information concerning the Override device. She tells Behrooz to meet the agents in the ER so they can pick him up, but as Behrooz tries to leave, Naseem catches up with him and tells him he'd called Navi. Panicking, Behrooz flees, and Naseem follows him down another hallway, where they both run into Navi. Navi shoots Naseem and drags Behrooz into a stairwell, and is about to kill him as well when Behrooz tells him that Dina has been arrested and that the agents are coming for him - and that if Navi shoots him, Dina will betray him.

As the agents arrive, Navi forces Behrooz at gunpoint into the hospitals basement, using Behrooz as a hostage to get past the Jack Bauer and the other government agents. Jack manages to sneak into the basement, and fights with Navi before appearing close to apperehending him. However, Navi's gun is knocked away during the fight, and Behrooz picks it up and shoots Navi just as Jack is about to arrest him. Dina and Behrooz are ultimately taken to CTU.

Behrooz and Dina are taken to separate holding cells, where Behrooz is presumably questioned off-screen. He sees his mother again several hours later, when she is brought into his cell before she goes with Jack on a mission to help locate Marwan, in return for receiving a pardon, as well. Behrooz knows that this mission is dangerous and begs her not to go, but she leaves, anyway.

After this, Behrooz is taken to interrogation room, where he is questioned by Curtis Manning. Curtis tells him his mother is fine, then gruffly pulls him up and shoves him against a wall, demanding information about Marwan. Behrooz insists he doesn't know anything, even when the agents turn to torture.

Curtis later tells Behrooz that Marwan has offered a deal - that CTU trade him for Jack, whom Marwan is holding hostage. CTU has a plan to put trackers on Behrooz and go through with the trade. Behrooz does not want to do this, but ultimately goes through with it. The terrorists who take him put him in a van, and quickly find and destroy the trackers.

Background information and notes
What happened to Behrooz after being handed over to Marwan's men is never revealed over the course of the season. Two deleted scenes were filmed, both with different outcomes to the storyline, but both were cut for time. Following the season finale, one of the show's producers told TVGuide in its June 12, 2005 issue that Behrooz was rescued shortly before being "shipped off for reeducation and also to make room for parts of Mitch Anderson's crime."

There are two deleted scenes included in the Season 4 DVDs that deal with this storyline. In the first, Curtis narrowly saves Behrooz from execution at the hands of Marwan's men. In the second, which branches out from Day 4 6:00am-7:00am, Behrooz is led into CTU, and Edgar Stiles comments that he was found at the port "in a shipping container registered to Marwan."

Behrooz's abrupt disappearance has been a source of great consternation to many fans, to the point where any character who similarly vanishes without any closure is jokingly said to have been "Behroozed."