[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 13]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     ``MY RELIGION MADE ME DO IT''

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Madam Speaker, murder in the name of religion has struck 
again. This time it happened in Dallas, Texas.
  On New Year's Day law enforcement officials found the bullet-riddled 
bodies of two teenage sisters, 17-year-old Sarah Said and 18-year-old 
Amina Said. They were found in the back seat of their father's taxicab.
  Now their father, Yaser Said, a Muslim and an Egyptian-born 
immigrant, is on the run. Authorities believe he murdered the girls 
after he found out they had American boyfriends.
  Family members say the murder was motivated by a Muslim tradition 
known as ``honor killing.'' According to this tradition, religious 
extremists justify homicide in the name of religion in order to correct 
the ``shame'' that a family member has brought on the family.
  Well, in the United States it is absolutely never acceptable, let 
alone honorable, to murder your own kids. This criminal needs to be 
tried and sent to prison. We live in a Nation that values life and 
liberty. And no father has a right to kill his daughters and try to 
claim the defense, ``My religion made me do it.''
  And that's just the way it is.

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