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University Communications

JORDANIAN JOURNALIST TO SPEAK ON HONOR KILLINGS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Feb. 27, 2001

Jordanian journalist Rana Husseini, whose reporting has brought worldwide attention to honor killings in the Middle East, will speak at the University of Richmond on March 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Keller Hall Reception Room.

"In the name of honor, a 16-year-old girl was killed by her family because she was raped by her brother," Husseini writes. "He assaulted her several times and then threatened to kill her if she told anyone. When she discovered that she was pregnant, she had to tell her family. After the family arranged an abortion, they married her off to a man 50 years her senior. When he divorced her six months later, her family murdered her."

That story compelled Rana Husseini, a reporter for the Jordan Times, to launch a crusade against honor killings in the Middle East. Honor killings are the murders of females by male relatives who believe that the women have engaged in some kind of sexual activity or have been sexually assaulted, thus violating their families' honor.

Husseini's reporting resulted in legislation in Jordan setting tougher penalties for men who commit violence against women in the name of family honor. It also has raised worldwide awareness of honor killings. Her work was prominently featured in a CNN documentary on honor killings and on ABC and BBC news programs.

Until the Jordan Times began reporting on crimes of honor, she said, "the local press shied away from addressing the issue. Not only did people and officials become aware of these brutal crimes--which in most instances are committed in cold blood merely on suspicion and rumors or because the victim was raped--they also learned of the legal system that permits and encourages murder by offering killers little or no prison terms."

Husseini's talk is free and open to the public. It launches Women's History Month and is part of the university's Women Involved in Living and Learning (WILL) and women's studies speakers series, "Building a Better World: Women and Men Organizing for Social Justice." Call 289-8578 for more information.