Media Largely Ignores Texas Honor Killings

Yaser Abdel Said allegedly murdered his daughters six days ago now, and outside of the blogosphere and the Washington Times, the honor killing angle is being largely ignored. In fact, the story itself is being ignored by the majority of media outlets?

Why is that?

Phyllis Chesler notes:

If Abdul Said's photo had been plastered all across our television screens and on the pages of our morning newspapers maybe -- just maybe -- someone might have recognized him or maybe --- just maybe -- someone at a mosque might have been shamed by this dishonorable act and encouraged to mount a Muslim religious campaign to find and turn him over to the police. . . .

Where is Abdul [sic]? Did he shoot himself? If so, where's the corpse? Did he flee the country after a well-planned murder? If so, what plane did he board and where did he go? . . .

I have no inside information but I assume that the police are asking all these questions. Authorities have offered a $10,000.00 reward for Abdul Said.

Indeed, we noted last Thursday Said could be anywhere in the world, and since then, even police have been mum on this case.

More today at FrontPage.

Here's the latest Google News search results.

Could you imagine the same dearth of coverage if this were, say, a phony CAIR hate-crime story?

Laura Ingle at Fox has more.

I’ve also been told that he has a brother in the New York area. A brother, and uncle who did not come for the double funeral yesterday, and has not once called the family to express any condolences. We know that the taxi cab was found about 15 minutes from the airport, so in theory if Yaser Abdel took off, he could have shot his daughters and easily ran to the airport and got on a flight. New York? Egypt?

Austin Mosque Starts 'Dialogue'

File this one under pre-emptive damage control.

The shocking double filicide in the Dallas area has created a buzz of concern at the North Austin Muslim Community Center. I spoke by phone today with Sheikh Mohammed-Umer Esmail, who planned to address the tragic story in his sermon.

According to news reports, Yaser Abdel Said, 50, a Muslim cab driver from Lewisville, is suspected of shooting his two daughters Tuesday night in a hotel parking lot and leaving them to die in his taxi. The girls were 17 and 18, both star students who excelled at tennis and soccer.

Some reports are suggesting the killings had all the signs of an “honor killing.” Some have said one of the girls had a boyfriend, which scandalized the Egyptian father. Reports also refer to the daughters wearing Western clothes and disobeying their father’s rules.

That is what worries our Austin imam. Esmail said he was shocked that this would happen in the United States, and although he doesn’t think local Muslim parents would resort to such extremes, he does want to start a dialogue about the challenges of raising children with Muslim values in American society. Foreign-born parents sometimes feel unable to cope with their children’s American-influenced behavior, such as talking back or refusing to wear modest clothes. Some try to force their kids to comply, he said. Some just stop enforcing the rules.

That’s why talking openly about these issues is key, Esmail said.

“I’m worried about something like that happening over here,” he said. “If it can happen in Dallas, it can happen anywhere else. Are we prepared in advance?”

Yup, they just can't cope with American values, like actually expressing your opinion and not wanting to dress in a hefty bag.

If this cat wants some dialogue, here's some advice. Stop adhering to a 7th Century religion that treats women like chattel.

Meanwhile, Said's son is calling for his father to turn himself in.

Good luck with that.

As the family of two teenage Texas girls allegedly shot by their father and left to die in his taxi prepared to bury them, their brother issued a plea to his father.

"I just hope he turns himself in because, you know, he messed up the whole family," Islam Said, 19, told MyFOXDFW.com after his sisters were found dead Tuesday night.

Said said his father, Yaser Abdel Said, 50, of Lewisville, Texas, was having a very hard time when his daughters, Sarah Yaser Said, 17, and Amina Yaser Said, 18, started dating.

Connie Moggio, the girls' aunt, said there had been turbulence in the Said household for a while.

She said her sister married Yaser Abdel Said at the age of 15 and was pregnant shortly after, adding she had tried to leave her husband many times over the years, most recently, on Christmas Eve.

"A few days before she called me at my job and told me she was leaving because he had threatened the girls because they were dating," Moggio told MyFOXDFW.com.

'Islam Is Not A Bad Religion'

As the manhunt continues for Yaser Abdel Said, who police admit could be anywhere in the world by now, Said's wife and son emerged at a candlelight vigil Thursday evening.

LEWISVILLE -- Patricia Said and her 19-year-old son have been in hiding since her teenage daughters were found shot to death Tuesday and her husband, Yaser Abdel Said, was accused of the crime.

With police watching over them, the mother and son emerged Thursday evening to attend a candlelight vigil in honor of the girls. Yaser Abdel Said, 50, has eluded police since the shooting.

The girls' mother sobbed into the microphone at Lewisville High School, where Sarah Said, 17, and Amina Said, 18, were honor students.

"They will be missed," Patricia Said told the crowd of about 100 students and teachers. "They were always happy, even when I was sad."

Their brother, Islam Said, also addressed the crowd to dispel rumors that the family's Muslim faith was a factor in their slayings.

"Religion has nothing to do with this, and it was very wrong," Islam Said said. "Islam is not a bad religion."

Well, that's his opinion.

Others are free to theirs.

Details emerged Thursday about the days leading up to the fatal shootings of the Lewisville teens, who were found Tuesday evening in a taxi that police believe was driven by their father.

Patricia Said and her daughters quit their jobs at a Kroger grocery store in Lewisville just before Christmas, a company spokesman said.

Patricia and Yaser Said were wed in February 1987 when she was 15 and he was 30, Tarrant County marriage records show. The two have had addresses in Euless, Bedford, Grand Prairie and Arlington, public records indicate.

Yaser Abdel Said filed a missing-person report Dec. 26. He hoped police would help track down his wife, according to a report by KDFW/Channel 4.

The incident marked one of the domestic problems that investigators believe may have led to the killings of Sarah and Amina Said.

Friends of the girls have said their father didn't approve of them dating.

Read the rest.

UPDATE: More here.

There has been speculation that the crime was an honor killing, a practice in some Muslim communities where a man kills a female relative who is believed to have shamed the family.

Irving police spokesman David Tull said authorities are exploring all possible motives in the sisters' slayings, including that they may have been the victims of an honor killing. He acknowledged there had been some domestic issues in the family.

"We're well aware of the family dynamics," he said. "Everyone wants to know the motive. The only person that can really tell us is him."

Officer Tull said there had been no progress Thursday in locating Mr. Said but noted that federal authorities are participating in the manhunt.

"We've got a large net cast," he said.

Officer Tull said there's a possibility that the Egyptian-born man may have left the country.

"He's not a stranger to travel," he said.

Zohair Zaidi, a close friend of Sarah's, said she told him her father had recently threatened to harm Amina when he discovered she had a boyfriend.

"Her dad has always been oppressive with her and her sister," said Mr. Zaidi, 18.

"She said that one day when she came home – the day he found out about Amina's boyfriend – he told Sarah, 'I'm going to put a bullet through Amina's head, and you better get used to her because she's not going to be around much longer.' "

Said 'Could be Anywhere in the World'

Michael Nguyen, 17, holds a poster made from a photo on Sarah and Amina Said's MySpace page, during a vigil for the two sisters at Lewisville High School on Thursday. From left: Nguyen, Anysha Sadruddin, 18; Noel Truong, 18; and Justin Joseph, 14. The poster was made by Jacqueline Duong, 17, not pictured. (Star-Telegram/Laurie L. Ward)

The manhunt continues for Yaser Abdel Said and the latest report out of Dallas isn't that encouraging.

Let's just say I hope they've checked flight logs out of DFW for anything headed toward Cairo.

In the meantime, an unidentified cabbie who found Said's murdered daughters spoke with CBS11.

A man who found two North Texas sisters murdered in a taxi cab says that he first thought they were asleep. That man is talking exclusively to CBS 11 News.

Thursday was the first day back at class, since Christmas vacation, for Lewisville High School students. Amina and Sarah Said were well known at the school; Sarah was still a student there. Students, family and friends held a candlelight vigil for the sisters Thursday night.

The search continues for the girl's father, Yaser Abdel Said. The 50-year-old man, who is the prime suspect in the double homicide, has been charged with capital murder. Said is Egyptian and is rumored to have objected to his daughter's embracing American lifestyles and fashions.

Irving police say on Tuesday night Said left the bodies of his daughter's in a cab that he drove. Said then allegedly parked the vehicle in the 'taxi Q' of a Las Colinas hotel.

A fellow cabbie, who doesn't want to be identified, later thought the cab had car trouble and looked inside. "I knocked on the windows real hard, but no one wake up," he said.

The man told CBS 11 News that he thought the sisters were asleep, but then he noticed that one of the cab doors was only partly shut. "I opened the door and I saw the lady on the passenger side seat. The hand just fall down, it's not moving. I think she is dead," he told reporter Bud Gillett.

Clearly there's premeditation and there was some time between the killings and the discovery of the bodies, which leads investigators to believe he may well have fled the country.

Irving police say they are concentrating the search for Said locally. Officials say the man is armed and extremely dangerous, but admit that with the crime proximity to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport the Irving father could be anywhere in the world.

Meanwhile, students and teachers gather Thursday night for a tribute to the slain sisters.

Murderous Muslim Dad Still on the Loose

The media has to be dragged kicking and screaming to this one.

Now the angle is there were dating issues.

Really, just dating issues? Nothing to do with the father practicing Islam and freaking out that his girls were Americanized?

Area police continue to search for a man who they believe killed his two teenage daughters and left their bodies in a taxi at an Irving hotel.

Police sealed off a street and surrounded the man's home in Lewisville for more than five hours Wednesday but found that Yaser Abdel Said, 50, a cabdriver, was not inside.

He is sought in connection with the deaths of Amina Yaser Said, 18, and Sarah Yaser Said, 17.

I dared to suggest yesterday maybe the police should be combing area mosques.

Better yet, have they checked local CAIR offices?

Friends describe Amina and Sarah as quiet but well-liked students at Lewisville High School. They played tennis and soccer and were in many Advanced Placement classes.

"They were extremely smart – like geniuses," said Allison Villarreal, a senior at Lewisville High, where Amina was a senior and Sarah was a junior.

Liz Marines, secretary of the Lewisville High School Student Council, had classes with both of the sisters and remembers their scholastic abilities.

"Amina was very nice with everybody. She helped me in [Advanced Placement English] class," she said. Sarah was a sophomore when she took an Algebra II class with Liz, who was a junior at the time.

She said the sisters, who wore typical American clothes, didn't talk much about their family. "I didn't know they were Muslims until she told me they were Egyptian and Muslim," Liz said.

UPDATE: Bryan at Hot Air has more.

Video from Dallas television here.

Assorted reaction at Memeorandum.

Gateway Pundit has this and an honor killing in Chicago.

More at Michelle Malkin, LGF.

Have You Seen This Peaceful Religious Man?

In case you have, call the authorities in Dallas, where he reportedly murdered his two teenage daughters.

A capital murder arrest warrant has been issued for a man suspected in the deaths of his teenage daughters, Irving police said.

Investigators were searching for Yaser Abdel Said, a 50-year-old cab driver, police said. The two teens were found in a Jet Taxi vehicle that Mr. Said drove, Irving police spokesman David Tull said. Jet Taxi operations manager Chris Petersen said he was unable to release any information but that the company was in contact with police.

About 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Irving police received a 911 call from a woman saying she had been shot, but could not provide a location. The call originated near O’Connor Road and Riverside Drive, and officers sent to the location were unable to find the victim.

An hour later, police received another call from someone reporting a suspicious vehicle in a parking lot in the 200 block of Las Colinas Boulevard, which is about a half-mile from where the victim called. Inside, police said they found Sarah Yaser Said, 17, and her sister Amina Yaser Said, 18, both of Lewisville. The two sisters had been shot.

Honor killings, anyone?

Said is considered armed and extremely dangerous.

I wonder if the authorities have searched any local mosques?

More here.

UPDATE: Lots of buzz on this today. Check out Hot Air and Fishwrap, which notes a rather timely story today from Sara A. Carter.

UPDATE II: The girls lived in fear of their father.

Sisters, Amina, 18, and Sarah, 17, were each shot to death. Friends of the girls say their father was Egyptian and critical of popular American lifestyles. "I'm definitely 100% sure that it was her dad that killed her," said Kathleen Wong, a friend of the dead teenagers.

Wong says the girl's father was verbally abusive and that Sarah, especially, lived in fear. "She's always told me that she was always so scared of her dad," says Wong. "Even at school if a teacher joked around like, 'I'm gonna tell your parents about this', she would like totally flip out and start crying like, 'please don't tell'."

Via another Fishwrap update.