US puts Egypt man on trial for 'honour killing' of his two daughters 

The US state of Texas is witnessing the rare trial of an Egyptian man who is accused of committing an honour killing 12 years ago by killing his two daughters.

Police charged 65-year-old Yasser Saeed with the murder of his 18-year-old daughter Amina and 17-year-old daughter Sarah on New Year’s Day in 2008, but Saeed testified with the help of an interpreter inside a Dallas courtroom that he did not kill his two daughters and pleaded innocent.

Saeed, who was a taxi driver, faces an automatic life sentence if convicted. The sisters were found shot dead in a taxi parked near a hotel in the Dallas suburb of Irving.

His testimony comes two days after jurors heard a 911 call made by Sarah Saeed from a mobile phone, telling the operator that her father had shot her and that she was dying.

“I’m dying, oh my God, help,” Sarah said on the call, crying.

The police report stated that a family member told investigators that Saeed had threatened Sarah with physical harm because she had been on a date with a non-Muslim. The sisters’ aunt called the death an “honour killing”.

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