“Honor Killings” – Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)

FBI Publishes Reward for Man Accused of “Honor Killing” of Texas Girls

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.
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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.”

Amina Said’s alleged boyfriend has also spoken out on the murders.

Pakistan: Six guilty of Pakistan Kohistan ‘honour killings’

BBC reports: “A court in the remote northern Pakistan region of Kohistan has sentenced a man to death for the murder of three brothers in a so-called honour killing. Five others were sentenced to life imprisonment. The killings took place early last year after a mobile phone video surfaced which showed a group of women and men dancing and chatting at a wedding. The men killed were brothers of the men in the video, and those convicted were relatives of the women. The women are also thought to have been killed. “

Georgia: Father Convicted for “Honor Killing” of Daughter

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 — 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.”

Pakistan: 102 Honor Killings in Punjab in 6 Months, Nearly 3,000 Women Victimized

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.”

Ten Years Later, Alleged “Honor Killing” of Cleveland Woman Unpunished

The alleged “honor killing” murder of Methal Dayem in Cleveland remains unpunished 10 years after her murder in 1999.

Methal Dayem - Victim of "Honor Killing" in Cleveland, Ohio — 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.