<text>  A man convicted of killing the father and sister of his former girlfriend in a fiery attack on the familys Southern California home was sentenced to death on Tuesday. Iftekhar Murtaza, 30, was sentenced for the murders of Jay Dhanak, 56, and his daughter Karishma, 20, in May 2007, the Orange County district attorneys office said. Murtaza was convicted in December 2013 of killing the pair in an attempt to reunite with his then-18-year-old ex-girlfriend Shayona Dhanak. She had ended their relationship citing her Hindu familys opposition to her dating a Muslim. To be executed: Iftekhar Murtaza, 30, was sentenced to death Tuesday for the May 21, 2007 murders of his ex-girlfriends father and sister and the attempted murder of her mother . Authorities said Murtaza and a friend torched the familys Anaheim Hills home and kidnapped and killed Dhanaks father and sister, leaving their stabbed bodies burning in a park 2 miles from Dhanaks dorm room at the University of California, Irvine. Dhanaks mother, Leela, survived the attack. She was stabbed and left unconscious on a neighbors lawn. Murtaza was interviewed by police several days later and arrested at a Phoenix airport with a ticket to his native Bangladesh and more than 11,000 in cash. Jurors recommended that Murtaza be sentenced to death for the crimes. Attack: Murtaza torched his ex-girlfriends familys Orange County home after they broke-up, believing the murders of her family would reunited them . Religious differences: Murtaza dated Shayona Dhanak when she was 18 in 2007. She broke up with him when her Hindu parents allegedly told her they would stop paying her college tuition if she continued to date the Muslim man . Two of his friends were also sentenced to life in prison for the murders, but one of them, Vitaliy Krasnoperov, recently had his conviction overturned on appeal. Authorities said Krasnoperov hatched the plot to kill the Dhanaks with Murtaza and tried to help him hire a hit man. They said another friend, Charles Murphy Jr., helped Murtaza carry out the killings after Dhanak said she planned to go on a date with someone else. During the trial, Murtaza testified that he told many people he wanted to kill the Dhanaks because he was distraught over the breakup, but he said he didnt mean it literally. Didnt do it alone: Two of Murtazas friends have been convicted in connection to the killings . Killer: Leela Dhanak testified how Iftekhar Murtaza, seen in this August photo, murdered her husband and elder daughter in a failed attempt to win over her younger daughter . Bloodbath: Autopsy reports showed Jayprakash Dhanak left suffered 29 stab wounds to his body, while a pathologist testified that Karishma Dhanak right was alive when her throat was slit and her body set alight . 