HPHS Grad Decries ‘Honor Killings’ in New Doc
Amy Logan is an expert on the barbaric practice of “honor killing,” which is common in some cultures as a method of vengeance on family members who have committed acts thought to be immoral or dishonorable.
Part of her message is that such violence — often committed by men against women — takes place closer to home than many of us realize, which is why the University Park native was enthusiastic about participating in the feature documentary The Price of Honor.
The film, which chronicles the case of two Lewisville sisters who were killed by their father in Irving in 2008, will have its world-premiere screening at the Lakewood Theater at 6 p.m. Sunday. Logan also will participate in a question-and-answer session with the filmmakers after Sunday’s screening.
In the incident depicted in the film, Egyptian-born Yaser Said was living in Lewisville when he took his two teenage daughters in his taxicab to Irving, where he shot them to death, presumably for dating non-Muslim boys. Said fled the scene and is still at large more than six years later.
“We’re very serious about getting justice for these girls,” said Logan, a Highland Park High School graduate. “I think the film is going to spread awareness to everyone about honor violence. It encompasses so much more than murder.”
Logan said the hope is not only to remember the victims through the film, but also to bring justice in the case of Said, who remains on the FBI’s most-wanted list with a reward being offered for his arrest on capital murder charges.
“It has galvanized me. I hope that will translate to other people,” Logan said. “We’re hoping to tell the story of the girls’ lives so they are not forgotten. This is by far the most intimate portrait of the victims, the perpetrators, the accomplices, and the survivors that I’ve ever seen. It’s very powerful.”
After Sunday’s premiere, The Price of Honor will have showings this fall in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York, with plans to screen at festivals worldwide after that.
