11/22/2020
There was a blast from the past in August, when the Dallas branch of the FBI announced that Yaser Abdel Said had been arrested after being a fugitive since 2008 when he shot his teenage daughters to death in his own taxi ā something I wrote about at the time: Honor Killing in Texas?
Below, Amina and Sarah Said, along with the father Yaser Abdel Said.
Yaser was born in Egypt in 1957, according to his description on the FBIās 10 Most Wanted list. Since his arrival in the US, he exhibited traditional Muslim values of misogyny and harsh parenting, while his daughters grew up to live like American teens in their home in the Dallas area with their US-born mother.
And that behavior seemed to be a problem to Yaser, though it was a predictable outcome of the situation. Unless children of immigrants are sent to religious or foreign-language schools, they will normally absorb conduct typical in a public high school ā like dating Americans, which was an irritant for the Muslim father.
Itās interesting that Yaser was arrested in Justin, Texas, which is only 35 miles from Irving where the double murder took place. Was he in hiding for 12 years in the Dallas area? If so, it might suggest a community of traditional Muslims willing to protect a killer who was seen as sharia friendly. The August 2016 issue of the Texas Monthly reported that the Dallas metro area is āhome to more than 150,000 Muslims.ā
If any of those persons protected Yaser Said from the law, they would be in big trouble because Texas takes harboring offenses seriously:
Federal and State Laws Punish āHarboringā
In Texas, the law that criminalizes the act of harboring a fugitive is known as Hindering Apprehension or Prosecution ā¦ Hindering Apprehension or Prosecution is a Class A misdemeanor unless the harbored person is wanted for a felony, in which case it is a Third-Degree Felony punishable by 2-10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
In fact, a Dallas CBS report noted that Saidās son Islam and brother Yassim were arrested for harboring.
Muslim family values are strong ā but deadly.
Fugitive dad arrested for slaying teen daughters in āhonor killingā, New York Post, August 27, 2020
A Texas father ā one of the FBIās Ten Most Wanted Fugitives ā wanted for the slayings of his two teen daughters was busted after more than 12 years on the run, the federal law enforcement agency announced.
Yaser Abdel Said, 63, was arrested Wednesday by agents in the small town of Justin, about 36 miles northwest of Dallas, officials said.
The Egyptian-born taxicab driver was sought on capital murder charges since the New Yearās Day 2008 shootings of his two daughters, Sarah Yaser Said, 17, and Amina Yaser Said, 18, which have been described as āhonor killings.ā
The teens were found shot multiple times in a cab outside an Irving motel after one of them called 911, saying she was dying, authorities said.
āHelp,ā the younger sister could be heard crying on a 911 recording. āIām dying. Oh my God. Stop it.ā
Relatives at the time told cops that Yaser threatened ābodily harmā against Sarah for going on a date with a non-Muslim.
The girlsā mother, Patricia Said, fled with both girls in the week before their killings because she was in āgreat fear of her life,ā police said.
Gail Gattrell, the sistersā great-aunt, described the deaths as an āhonor killingā ā which are often carried about by a relative who believes a woman went against conservative Islamic values on love or marriage. (Continues)