Rana Husseini
Rana Husseini is an award-winning journalist and human rights activist based in Jordan writing for The Jordan Times.
Husseini has been honoured on the international stage with a number of significant awards including: The 1995 MEDNEWS prize award for best article “Murder in the name of honour,” the Reebok Human Rights Award in 1998, the Human Rights Watch Award in 2000 for being part of the National Jordanian Committee to Eliminate Crimes of Honour and the Ida B. Wells award in 2003 for Bravery in Journalism.
Here is Hussieni’s foreword in To Kill in the Name of Honour:
A so-called ‘honour’ crime occurs when a family feels that their female relative has tarnished their reputation by what they term ‘immoral behavior’. The man chosen by the family to carry out the murder brutally ends his female relative’s life to cleanse the family of the ‘shame’ she has brought upon them.
Honour Killings are one of the greatest dangers women face in the world today. Every year, according to figures produced by the UN in 2000, five thousand women are murdered in the name of so-called honour. Many people believe that the true figure is much higher because many of these crimes are disguised as suicides or runaways.
The term ‘honour crimes’ is ironic in the extreme because these murders and the manner in which they are carried out lack any honour whatsoever. Throughout my long career in reporting, investigating and campaigning against laws that support honour killings I have witnessed the aftermath of these terrible, barbaric crimes again and again. All too often the victims are teenage girls who have dared to rebel and refused to enter into a forced marriage.
Shirin Mired, herself a teenager has made an important contribution to the fight. One of the best ways people can end so-called crimes of honour is to make others aware that they happen. When I first started to report on these crimes I was criticised for exaggerating, but gradually people came to realise that they did happen, it was simply the case that they had gone unnoticed.
One of the things that that brought me the most delights and tears to my eyes was seeing children and teachers discussing honour crimes in our schools. By writing this accurate, fictional account Shirin Mired has made a vital contribution to the fight.
To Kill in the Name of Honour is a book I strongly reccomend to anyone who wants to know more about the topic of so-called honour killings from the point of view of a Jordanian teenager who is trying to shed light on an important problem. A Problem that Jordan is trying to fight to end through its government and activists. The book is the voice of a young Jordanian woman who has decided through the story, the plot and the character to say ‘NO’ to so-called honour killings, and I believe she succeeds. I sincerely hope that many thousands of young people will read it.
To learn more about Rana Husseini visit her website at: www.ranahusseini.com
To Kill in the Name of Honour 