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| The shame: Honor abduction (and killing?) thwarted | ||
| 2003-12-28 | ||
| A Grant County man has been charged with trying to kidnap his sister from her Sedro-Woolley [WA] home in what police believe was an attempt to punish her for marrying outside her Muslim faith. Khalil Nassar, 21, and a 24-year-old acquaintance, Antonio Cortez, were charged Wednesday with attempted kidnapping, said Robin Webb-Lakey, a Skagit County senior deputy prosecutor. Nassar also was charged with felony harassment. The two men told police they were simply planning to visit Nassar’s sister, according to an affidavit signed by Sedro-Woolley Police Sgt. William Tucker and filed in Skagit County Superior Court. Nassar and Cortez were arrested Monday morning after a police officer found them parked a block away from the sister’s apartment in downtown Sedro-Woolley, police Lt. Doug Wood said. The two men were in a rented van. Police found rope, gloves, coveralls and a hardhat in the vehicle, according to the affidavit. Police believe the coveralls and hardhat were to be used as a disguise, Wood said. The 18-year-old sister called police in Sedro-Woolley in early December to complain that she and her 19-year-old husband, who is a Christian, were being harassed by her father, according to Tucker’s statement to the court. Previously, the Grant County Sheriff’s Department had investigated complaints made by both families while the couple lived in the Moses Lake area, [of recent Mad Cow fame] according to court documents. The couple was engaged at the time. Both families told Grant deputies that the other threatened them. The young couple relocated to Sedro-Woolley, but the woman’s family continued to call her cellular phone and ask for her to return, according to Tucker’s statement. During one of these conversations, the woman taped her brother saying he would return her to her family "dead or alive," Tucker said in his affidavit. Nassar’s father, Sadallah Nassar, told the Skagit Valley Herald that the accusations were false.
"And he brought his costume to do his Village People act. Have you seen him do ’YMCA’? He’s very good." Police reports also say the two men who were arrested told officers they were only in the area to visit the young woman, but officers were bothered by inconsistencies in the two men’s stories, according to court records. "We determined they made a substantial attempt to retrieve her," Wood said.
"Or they’ll cut off their heads." | ||
| Posted by:Dar |
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| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-12-28 10:01:30 PM |
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| Posted by: Mark 2003-12-28 4:43:51 PM |
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| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-12-28 1:40:41 PM |