Yaser Said is still at large, as a FBI Top Ten Fugitive, at the present time. On December 4, 2014, the FBI is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
Yaser Said (also spelled Yasser Said) has been accused of the “honor killing” murders of Amina and Sara Said on December 31, 2008, shooting them 11 times in his taxicab. Their mother, Patricia Owens, has continued a campaign to seek justice for her slain daughters. “‘Justice needs to be served for Amina and Sara,… ‘I’m here to get the word out on honor killing and justice for Amina and Sara.’ ‘I want him to be caught; I want him to be punished for what he did to the girls. They did not deserve that.'”
The murdered victims had contacted the Irving Police Department at 7:33 pm CT via a telephone call to the 911 call center. The 911 call center reported that the call was from Sarah Said. Sarah Said stated that she had been shot 9 times and told the operator “My Dad shot me and my sister, I’m dying!” Patricia Owens and other claim the girls were killed for being too Westernized having non-Muslim boyfriends.
The Dallas Morning News reported that: “Friends and relatives have said that Said became irate because he found out his daughters were dating and that he had threatened to harm them. On Christmas Day 2007, Owens, her daughters and their boyfriends fled the state. They rented an apartment under an assumed name in Tulsa, Okla.But Owens and her daughters returned to Lewisville on New Year’s Eve. Owens said Said’s family convinced her that she and the girls shouldn’t fear him and that they would protect them. She said they also said that she and the girls should stay in the family’s home and that Said could stay with relatives. Amina wanted to finish her last semester as a senior and feared that attending high school in Tulsa would affect the full scholarship she’d been offered to Texas Tech University. That night, the girls and their father left to get something to eat. The next day, Amina, 18, and Sarah, 17, were found shot to death in a cab their father had borrowed at an Irving hotel.”
Three years later, a Georgia court convicted a man who reported killed his daughter, Sandeela Kanwal, as part of an extremist “honor killing.”
Sandeela Kanwa – Victim of “Honor Killing” in Georgia
In July 2008, ABC reported that:”A Georgia father of Pakistani descent allegedly strangled his 25-year-old daughter because she wanted to get out of an arranged marriage to a man she had not seen in months, according to police in Clayton County, Ga. Chaudhry Rashid, 56, was scheduled to be arraigned today on a murder charge. Rashid was arrested early Sunday morning at his family’s house after police responded to a domestic disturbance call and found his daughter, Sandeela Kanwal, dead in an upstairs bedroom. The Clayton County Medical Examiner confirmed that Kanwal died of strangulation. Police recovered an iron by the young woman’s bedroom doorway and a necklace on a family room table that may have been used in the killing, according to a Clayton County police report. Authorities allege that Rashid killed his daughter because he feared that her resistance to a recently arranged marriage would disgrace the Pakistani-American family. ‘She was very unhappy with the marriage, had not seen the husband in three months and was seeking a divorce,’ Timothy Owens, a spokesman for the Clayton County Police Department, told ABC News. ‘The father felt like the he had to uphold his family’s honor.'”
On May 6, 2011, the Clayton News Daily in Jonesboro, Georgia – reported: “A Clayton County jury took about four hours to convict Chaudhry Rashid, 59, of the July 2008, strangulation death of his only daughter, Sandeela Kanwal, 25. Judge Albert Collier sentenced Rashid to life in prison, with the possibility of parole.”
The Pakistan Daily Times reports on 2,909 women victimized over 6 month (January through June 2010) in Punjab, including 102 “honor killings.”
— Pakistan Daily Times reports – on report from January to June 2010 “8 Out of 2,690 cases reported, 913 were abductions, 381 murders, 102 honour killings, 377 rapes and gang rapes, 166 suicides”
— “The aforementioned facts have been taken from the first bi-annual report on incidents of violence against women, titled ‘Situation of Violence Against Women in Punjab’, compiled by Aurat Foundation in collaboration with the Violence Against Women (VAW) Watch Group.”
— “Out of the 2,690 cases reported, there were 913 cases of abductions, 381 murders, 102 honour killings, 377 rape and gang rape and 166 cases of suicide.”
— “Geographically, 1,141 cases had been reported in the urban areas and 1,546 in the rural areas, while the area could not be identified in three cases. According to the status of first information reports, 2,353 cases had been registered in the police stations concerned, 96 were not registered anywhere, while there was no information regarding the registration of FIRs in 241 cases. Out of the total 3,066 victims of violence, 1,535 female victims were unmarried, 1,217 were married, 48 were widows, 39 divorcees, while no information was available for the remaining 227 victims. Almost 467 of the victims were under 18 years of age, 185 women were aged between 19 and 36, 58 female victims were above the age of 36, while in 2,356 cases, no information was available about the victims’ ages.”
— “Maximum incidents: According to the report, the 12 districts where a maximum number of cases of violence against women were reported were Lahore with 458 cases, followed by Faisalabad with 393, Sargodha 161, Sheikhupura 157, Rawalpindi 139, Okara 134, Kasur 116, Sialkot 114, Sahiwal 88, Gujranwala 87, Jhang 76 and Multan with 71 reported cases of violence.”
— “The six-month picture of the current year reveals that out of 2,690 various types of offences committed against women, abduction tops with 33 percent women and girls abducted in Punjab, followed by murder and rape and gang rape at 14 percent, suicide six percent and domestic violence four percent. Interestingly, the report also reflects the relationship of the accused with the victims, as the accused in all 2,690 cases had been found to be close relatives such as husbands, fathers, brothers, cousins, in-laws, besides local influentials, police or neighbours.”
— “The cases of violence against women were collected from local sources of information, mainly local and regional newspapers, individuals and shelter homes, the report says.”
In Arizona, the trial of Faleh Almaleki for the “honor killing” of his 20 year old daughter in November 2009 has been scheduled to being on November 29, 2010.
Arizona Republic states: “A Glendale man accused of slaying his daughter in an ‘honor killing’ is scheduled to stand trial later this year. Faleh Almaleki, an Iraqi immigrant, is suspected of running down his daughter, 20-year-old Noor Almaleki, for being ‘too Westernized.’ He was reportedly furious with Noor for leaving her Iraqi husband, a cousin in an arranged marriage, and returning to the United States. Police say Almaleki, 49, used his Jeep Cherokee to run over his daughter and another woman in a Peoria parking lot Oct. 20, 2009. Noor died of her injuries. The other victim, Noor’s boyfriend’s mother, survived.”
Faleh Hassan Almaleki (Left) and Murdered Noor Faleh Almaleki (Right)
Also see R.E.A.L. public awareness campaign on extremist basis for “honor killings” against Muslim women and girls.
CNN reports: “An Arizona judge sentenced an Iraqi immigrant on Friday to more than 34 years in prison, about two months after his conviction for running over his 20-year-old daughter because he claimed she’d become ‘too Westernized.’ A Maricopa County, Arizona, jury in February convicted Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 50, of one count of second-degree murder in the death of Noor Faleh Almaleki. He was also found guilty of aggravated assault for causing serious injuries to Amal Edan Khalaf, the mother of Noor’s fiance, as well as two counts of leaving the scene. On Friday, Judge Roland Steinle sentenced Almaleki to a total of 34½ years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for his crimes. That includes 16 years — less than the maximum possible sentence of 22 years — on the murder charge, which will be served concurrently with a 15-year aggravated assault sentence. In addition, Almaleki will get consecutive 3½-year terms for leaving the scene.”
R.E.A.L. supports the freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, and freedom of worship for all, as guaranteed by the nations of the world in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Article 18. Article 18 states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” We view Article 18 as a fundamental necessity to ensuring religious pluralism. We support such freedoms for all. We also recognize that exclusivity in views on religion will exist, whether such exclusivity is based a personal belief in the validity of only one religion, or it is based on the belief in the equal validity of multiple religions. Our support for religious freedom and pluralism is not a challenge to any religion, but a promotion of religious freedom.
R.E.A.L.’s support for our universal human rights and pluralism, with an emphasis on Article 18 of the UDHR, calls for such promotion of religious pluralism, but recognizes the reality of those who seek to defy our universal human rights with religious arguments. We reject religious extremist views that promote hate and intolerance. We reject religious extremist ideological arguments that seek to prevent the universal human rights of all people, based on such arguments. We reject religious extremist views that seek to even prevent religious freedom, freedom of worship, and freedom of conscience for other human beings, a painful reality that we see too often in the United States and around the world.
Our definition of such views as religious extremism is not about denying the personal exclusivity of any religious path to our fellow human beings, or the exercise or promotion of their religion as part of their freedoms.
R.E.A.L. promotes religious pluralism, but in doing so, also challenges those ideologies, groups, and activists who seek to promote a religious extremist view that seeks to consciously deny others basic human rights, including the freedom of religion, freedom of worship, and freedom of conscience necessary for religious pluralism.
In defense of such religious pluralism, we challenge extreme groups that seek to use arguments that they call “Christian,” “Islamic,” or another religious identification to deny others freedom of religion, worship, and conscience, to call for hate, to call for violence, to oppress women and minorities, to seek the destruction of our universal human rights of equality and liberty. We reject anti-human rights views as “Christian extremism” or “extremism,” but we do not attack or reject Christianity or Islam as a religion. Many of our supporters are devout members of religious faiths and we respect those faiths. Our human rights goals are the consistent defense of our universal human rights. We recognize that religious extremist views are difficult and complex discussions. But we also know from history that “white supremacist” views were once something Americans were unwilling to define, discuss, or challenge. We believe that to be honest in our commitment to pluralism, it is necessary to recognize the existence of religious extremist views that not only seek to undermine pluralism, but also seek to undermine religious freedom and freedom of conscience itself.
Our goal is to protect such religious freedoms for all faiths, based on pluralist tolerance for our differences, and based on an uncompromising defense of our Universal Human Rights.
Hoshiarpur (Punjab): A 20-year-old youth allegedly strangulated her teenaged sister and threw her body in a canal in a suspected case of honour killing in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab.
During sustained interrogation, Mani Pratap Kaushal confessed he had strangulated his sister Kanchan with an electric wire as he doubted her character, SSP Rakesh Aggarwal told mediapersons in Hoshiarpur today.
Mani, a resident of village Kitna, told police he had killed his sister, aged 16, for having an affair which had incensed the family, Aggarwal said.
After strangulating her, the youth said he wrapped her body in a bedsheet and threw it in a canal, the SSP said.
Earlier, Surinder Singh, the father of the girl, had filed a report with Mahilpur police station that his daughter was missing since June 29.
After serving dinner to the family, she had left the house without informing anyone, the father said in the complaint, according to the SSP.
A few days later, a body was fished out from a canal in Kapurthala district and police called Surinder Singh’s family to identify the body.
Mani went to the Rawalpindi police station but failed to identify the body.
However, during investigations Mani emerged as the main suspect and was arrested, the SSP said.
During interrogation, Mani revealed he had laced the dinner with intoxicants and went outside the house.
After consuming the dinner, the family members became unconscious and at around 1am, he strangulated Kanchan with an electric wire, he told his interrogators.
Later, he wrapped her body in a bedsheet and threw it in a canal near the village, the SSP said.
After Mani’s confession, police registered a case under various sections of the IPC including 302 (murder) against him, the police officer said.
India: A Demonstrator Calls for a Comprehensive Law against "Honor Killings" (Photo: Sify News)
SAPA reports on a 16 year old Jordanian girl murdered by uncle after sexual assault in “honor killing,” with 30 machine gun rounds:
— SAPA: “Jordanian shoots dead sex victim niece as ’honour killing'”
— “A Jordanian man confessed to killing his 16-year-old niece to save his family’s ‘honour’ after she was sexually assaulted, a judicial official said today.”
— “The 43-year-old fired 30 machine-gun rounds in the direction of the girl yesterday, killing her instantly, at Deir Alla, west of the capital Amman, said the official who requested anonymity.”
— “The man confessed to the murder, saying he did it to ‘cleanse the family honour’ over suspicions of ‘bad behaviour’ after the girl ‘lost her virginity a month ago in a sexual assault by a young man aged 17,’ said the same source.”
— “The girl’s family later married her off to a cousin ‘to conceal the facts,’ the official added, stressing that the suspect in the sexual assault was being tried.”
— “Prosecutors have charged the uncle with ‘premeditated murder.’ Murder is punishable by death in Jordan but in so-called ‘honour killings’ courts can commute or reduce sentences, particularly if the victim’s family asks for leniency.
— “Between 15 and 20 women are murdered in honour killings each year in the kingdom, despite government efforts to curb such crimes.”
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) rejects those who promote hate and violence, and urges them to release the burden of hate from their hearts. R.E.A.L. believes there is no “honor” in honor killings, and rejects the cultural or religious rationale that murderers use to justify their crimes, and their ideological hate crime war against women.
Turkish news media is reporting on an “honor killing” of a 17 year old girl, Seyma G., by her brother “Y.G.” The brother accused with the murder was a member of the anti-democracy group Hizb ut-Tahrir. The murdered girl, Seyma G. had reportedly been staying in a shelter for women, fleeing family abuse.
Turkish media Today’s Zaman reports: “Girl’s murder by brother was ‘honor killing” ‘states that “The police statement also noted that Y.G. was a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation), an outlawed fundamentalist organization. Y.G., who was detained during the Diyarbakir police investigation, was questioned and then jailed on July 16.”
Hurriyet Daily News reports that: “A 17-year-old woman found dead one month ago was allegedly murdered by her 15-year-old brother in an ‘honor killing’ after she left the women’s shelter where she was staying, daily Radikal reported Wednesday.”… “The body of Seyma G. was found half buried in the ground in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir, while subsequent tests revealed that she had been strangled to death. Her brother Y.G. was caught by police and then arrested July 16.” “The victim had reportedly been staying in a women’s shelter after being subjected to violence at home. Family members allegedly found her after they learned she had left the shelter.” “Her brother, who is accused in the murder, had previously been detained for being a member of the illegal Muslim organization Hizb ut-Tahrir.”
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) rejects violence and threats of violence, including those who rationalize “honor killings” and related threats with claims that such violence is justified by one’s culture or religion. R.E.A.L. rejects such rationalizations for hate and violence. R.E.A.L. supports our universal human rights for women and for all human beings.
Reports on honor killings in India, and articles by women’s rights activist Phyllis Chesler
Sify News: Honour killings: Conflict between tradition and modernity
— Sify News: “With a spate of so-called ‘honour killings’ shocking the nation in recent weeks, human rights activists say the increase in such cases is a testimony to the growing conflict between rigid family tradition and modernity.”
— “They also feel the problem can be resolved by increasing awareness and bringing tougher legislations.”
….
— “A series of cases, where young men or women were murdered for marrying outside caste or within the same sub-caste or against the family’s wishes have come to the fore in recent times. Delhi had back-to-back cases in the past two weeks.”
— “Only a few politicians have spoken against such crimes because caste can determine an election win or loss, felt Kant, whose organisation had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) before the Supreme court on this issue.”
India: A Demonstrator Calls for a Comprehensive Law against "Honor Killings" (Photo: Sify News)
Outlook India: Congress for Stern Handling of Honour Killing Cases
— Jayanthi Natarajan condemns “honor killings,” murders, and violence
— did not comment on “gotra marriages”
— Outlook India: “Asked whether Congress supports Khap Panchayats’ demand for a change in Hindu Marriage Act, she said, ‘We have not taken any view on changes in the Hindu Marriage Act.'”
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A TV grab of Kuldeep Singh and his wife Monica (Ankit Chaudhury's sister) murdered in "honor killing" in North Delhi, along with a third victim Shobha (sister of Mandeep Nagar)
Times of India: Honour killing case: Pistol used by accused recovered — accused Mandeep Nagar, Ankit Chaudhury, and Nakul Khari — Triple “honor killing” case – killing Ankit’s sister Monica and her husband Kuldeep Singh, and Shobha, Mandeep’s sister
— Times of India: “Making a headway in the Ashok Vihar honour killing case, Delhi Police have recovered from Rishikesh the pistol allegedly used by three youths to kill three of their relatives for marrying outside their caste.”
— “A team of city police recovered the .32 bore pistol from Rishikesh where they had taken the accused — Ankit, Mandeep and Nakul — for further investigation in the case. The trio were arrested from Ghaziabad on June 24.”
— “The accused had told police that they had thrown the pistol in the river after killing Ankit’s sister Monica and her husband Kuldeep for marrying outside the community. Later, they allegedly killed Shobha, Mandeep’s sister, who had earlier eloped with a person outside her community.”
— Outlook India: 3 Honour Killing Suspects Sent to 5 Days’ Police Custody
— IBN: Cops find weapon used in Delhi honour killings
— IBN: “The weapon used in the gruesome triple honour killing case of a Delhi couple and another young girl has been reportedly recovered. The pistol used to kill Monica, her husband Kuldeep Singh and her cousin Shobha was found in Rishikesh.”
— New Kerala: Delhi: Honour killing after 4-year marriage – in Ashok Vihar, north Delhi
— Couple shot dead in Ashok Vihar
India: Men Accused in Delhi "Honor Killings" -- Mandeep Nagar, Ankit Chaudhury, and Nakul Khari -- Accused of killing Ashok Vihar, Shobha Nagar (Photo: IBN Live)
Times of India: NRI held for suspected honour killing in Punjab
— Amritpal Kaur “honor killing”
— Times of India: “A non-resident Indian (NRI) will be produced in a court here on Wednesday following his arrest on Tuesday night for allegedly murdering his teenaged step-daughter in a suspected case of honour killing.”
— “Mehtab Singh was arrested after the police got a tip-off that he had brought his step-daughter Amritpal Kaur, 17, from Brussels, Belgium, earlier this month and clandestinely cremated her here after saying that she died of food poisoning.”
— “Police officials said the death of the girl seemed to be mysterious and that the step-father had shown undue urgency in cremating her.”
— “The police are investigating if the girl was killed by Mehtab Singh as she had fallen in love with a youth, Lakhwinder Singh, in Belgium.”
— “Lakhwinder belonged to another lower caste and this was not to the liking of Mehtab Singh. He is believed to have poisoned her a few days back and got her cremated.”
The Asian Age: “India has over 1,000 honour killings a year”
— Asian Age: “As instances of ‘honour killings’ are reported with alarming — and increasing — regularity across the country, a research paper to be presented at an international conference in London by some Indian jurists on crimes against women next week suggests that the total number of such killings could be well over 1,000 every year in India.”
— “The research paper titled ‘Social-legal perspective of forced marriages’, prepared by Chandigarh-based senior lawyer Ranjit Malhotra, an alumnus of the University of London and dealing with cases of intercontinental marital disputes and custody of children, says that at least ‘900 incidences of honour killings’ take place in three states alone — Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh — every year.”
— on July 2, 2010 in UK, Ranjit Malhotra to present research paper “Social-legal perspective of forced marriages” claiming total number of honor killings in India could be over 1,000 every year
—- Program for July 2, 2010 event
— Phyllis Chesler: “In June, 2010, (this very month), 16 Hindu victims (five male-female couples, five girls alone, one man alone) were murdered, their bodies finally discovered, the perpetrators finally arrested or sentenced. The murderers were all members of the girl’s family-of-origin in a planned conspiracy.”
The alleged “honor killing” murder of Methal Dayem in Cleveland remains unpunished 10 years after her murder in 1999.
Methal Dayem – Alleged Victim of “Honor Killing” in Cleveland, Ohio
Ten years ago, as reported by the Cleveland Plain Dealer in July 2000, “Methal Dayem, 21, was shot four times on Jan. 8, 1999. Three of the bullets hit her legs and torso. A fourth passed through the back of her neck and out through her voicebox. She died suffocating on her own blood.” “Prosecutors argued that Yezen Dayem and Musa Saleh killed their Lakewood cousin, Methal Dayem, last year because her independent ways threatened to sully the family’s reputation. The theory outraged the Dayem family, and even Methal Dayem’s parents doubted it at first, once protesting outside the Justice Center on behalf of their nephews. But as investigators began to share their evidence that this was an honor killing, Methal Dayem’s parents slowly changed their minds.”
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported: “By then, investigators believed Methal Dayem’s slaying was “Karo Kari,” or an honor killing. Men in Middle Eastern countries had for centuries murdered women who disgraced their families.” “And Cleveland police had learned that much of Methal Dayem’s family, Palestinian immigrants, were upset with Methal Dayem’s increasing independence, especially since she backed out of an arranged marriage a year before. Then Methal Dayem’s sister told them that Yezen Dayem and Saleh had started following Methal Dayem to school and to work, sometimes calling in between to check up on what she was doing.” “They had no physical evidence linking either Yezen Dayem or Saleh to the slaying and, from the beginning, both denied any involvement, but the prosecutors felt the honor killing theory was so compelling that they pushed ahead, convinced the circumstantial evidence was enough to prove their case.”
There was no conviction for the murder of the Cleveland woman Methal Dayem.
The accused individuals were acquitted in the case. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported‘ that the accused individuals in the alleged honor killing, “Yezen Dayem or Musa Saleh,” were acquitted.
