Click on the photos below to learn more about the Druze faith, culture and history.

That this story became news is partly the accomplishment of an award-winning Jordanian journalist who broke the silence about honor killings with her reports for the Jordan Times.

“The most surprising thing to me is how a person can kill a close relative,” Rana Husseini told WIDE ANGLE. She chronicles 15 years of her reporting and the resulting push for social and legal reform in Jordan in her new book, “Murder in the Name of Honor.”

Honor killings are relatively rare – numbering about 25 a year in Jordan, and about 5,000 a year worldwide (13 women a day). But the crime is one of the most brutal practices in the modern world. It occurs when a family feels its female relative has tarnished its reputation by her “immoral behavior” – which can range from being raped to having an unrecognized phone number on her cell phone – and is often carried out by the woman’s brother or father.

Husseini’s effort to report on the crime met resistance in Jordan when critics accused her of hurting the country’s reputation and of trying to devalue its culture by imposing Western values.

“I’ve been accused of being a Western agent,” said Husseini. “Its unfortunate, but you can’t stop, you have to fight.”

Her work received another blow in 2003, when an Iranian-American published a misleading book about honor killings, “Honor Lost,” that tells the story of the author’s childhood friend who was killed by her father after he discovered she was in love with a Christian. Husseini said the book was rife with errors and stereotypes (she counted eighty errors) about how Muslims treat women, and hurt efforts to change Muslim attitudes about the crime when Western conservatives in the United States and Australia used it to support an attack on Iraq. The publisher, Random House Australia, later acknowledged doubts of the author’s veracity and offered refunds on all returned books.

In fact, honor killings are most commonly associated with Muslims, but as Husseini notes in her book “while some Muslims do murder in the name of honor – and sometimes claim justification through the teachings of Islam – Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and others also maintain traditions and religious justifications that attempt to legitimize honor killings.”

In addition to Jordan, the practice occurs in Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Kurdish regions of Turkey, Egypt, Syria and even Israel, where honor killings have been documented among both Muslims and members of the Druze faith, although Hussieni notes they are “not in high numbers.”

Husseini has lent her support to campaigns in Jordan to amend laws that outline lenient punishment for perpetrators of honor killings. Article 340 of the country’s legal code mandates that “he who discovers his wife, or one of his female relatives with another in an adulterous situation, and kills, wounds or injures one or both of them, benefits from a reduction in penalty.” The campaign yielded a temporary amendment of a related law, and a longer lasting change in public awareness.

“The voices that oppose these crimes are getting more attention than before,” said Husseini.

As recently as this month, Jordan’s Justice Minister, Ayman Odeh, said perpetrators of honor crimes would get no legal exemptions. “A crime is a crime. There is no such thing as honor crimes. All people are equal before the law,” said Odeh.

Husseini says one of the most satisfying results of her reporting has been the change in attitude among men who feel pressured to defend the honor of their family.

“Two years ago at a public lecture in a full auditorium, I opened the floor for discussion,” Husseini recalled to WIDE ANGLE. “I had two men ask me in front of everyone, ‘I know killing my sister is wrong. What can I do to avoid committing this act if I’m ever put in this situation?’ This is a major shift.”

In this week’s WIDE ANGLE episode, Contestant No. 2, a young Druze woman who pushes the limits of her conservative culture in Israel faces a threat on her life from her uncle when her community expresses concern that her participation in a beauty pageant could damage her family’s honor.

A US drone kills 45 at what authorities say is a “Taliban training centre” in the South Waziristan tribal region of Pakistan that borders Afghanistan. A second drone strikes a funeral procession for those killed in the first raid. Former Afghan detainees at Bagram military base make new allegations that U.S. soldiers abused them.

North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Il, may be close to transferring power to his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, who he has put in charge of the nation’s secret police. Analysts say he may lack support from the country’s elite, which could cause a power struggle.

Chinese authorities arrest prominent dissident, Liu Xiaobo, for alleged agitation activities aimed at subversion of government. Liu has been under “residential surveillance” since Dec. 8, the day before publication of a document he co-wrote calling for democracy in China.

The U.S. announces it will send an ambassador to Syria for the first time in four years as part of an effort to rehabilitate relations in the Middle East.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi denies paying female escorts for their company and says his accusers fabricated their stories in order to scandalize him.

Iran’s Evin Prison

The Committee to Protect Journalists names the ten worst countries in the world to be a blogger.

Burma tops the list — Burmese blogger Maung Thura is serving a 59-year prison sentence for disseminating video footage after Cyclone Nargis last year.

Runner-up Iran has ordered all bloggers to register their sites with the government, and has created a special prosecutor’s office to work with the intelligence service on internet issues. Blogger Omidreza Mirsayafi, jailed for insulting the Ayatollahs and denigrating Islam, died in Iran’s notorious Evin prison last month.

In 2008, more bloggers were imprisoned than any other category of journalist.

“The power and influence of this new generation of online journalists has captured the attention of repressive governments around the world, and they have accelerated their counterattack,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon.

Following Burma and Iran on CPJ’s list are Syria, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Tunisia, China, Turkmenistan, and Egypt.

NATO revives full diplomatic relations with Russia, which were cut off in August 2008 on account of Russia’s war with Georgia.

The wife of Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is killed in a car accident; the prime minister himself suffers slight injuries.

Mauritania expels its Israeli ambassador in response to the recent military offensive in Gaza.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jeffery Feltman is expected to arrive in Syria tomorrow, for the highest-level diplomatic talks between the two nations in the past four years.

Germany has volunteered to host the most number of these refugees: 2,500 people. Six E.U. countries currently accept Iraqi refugees, with the largest share so far living in Sweden, which provided asylum to close to 9,000 Iraqis in 2007.

According to E.U. ministers, the focus of this asylum program will be on “refugees in a particularly vulnerable situation such as those with particular medical needs, trauma or torture victims, members of religious minorities or women on their own with family responsibilities.”

The move comes two months after the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR called upon the E.U. to do more for Iraqi refugees, and one day after the publication of a damning report by the international human rights agency Human Rights Watch accusing Greece — location-wise the most favorable entry point for Iraqis into Europe — of systematically rounding up and deporting Iraqi asylum seekers.

According to International Organization for Migration statistics, 2.4 million Iraqi refugees have fled the country since the Iraq war began in 2003, primarily to neighboring Jordan and Syria. An additional 2.7 million have been displaced within Iraq. Security gains following the U.S. military surge in Baghdad and a $195 million Iraqi government initiative to entice refugees home have encouraged the return home of nearly 200,000 Iraqis this year. But the vast majority continue to seek asylum abroad.

Between 2003 and 2006, the United Sates admitted only 770 Iraqi refugees. In response to political pressure, the U.S. government has pledged to admit a minimum of 17,000 Iraqi refugees by the end of the next fiscal year. In fiscal year 2008, which ended on September 30, the U.S. government resettled 13,823 Iraqis, more than eight times the number admitted in the previous year.

WIDE ANGLE’s Iraqi Exodus explored the refugee crisis through the daily lives of displaced Iraqi communities in Syria and Jordan.

Foley is scheduled to tour Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Yesterday, he landed in Syria, a country that shelters over a million Iraqi refugees — more Iraqis than any other country. The visit of a high-ranking U.S. official to Syria is considered rare because of the country’s support of anti-Israeli groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Iraqis and Afghans account for more than half of the world’s 11.4 million refugees. UNHCR estimates that of the 4.7 million Iraqis who have left their homes since the Gulf War (1990-1991), two million have fled since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Advocacy and human rights groups, along with several U.S. senators, have accused the Bush administration of not doing enough for the Iraqis who have fled.

WIDE ANGLE’s film about the Iraqi refugee crisis in Syria and Jordan premieres on August 19. Check your local listings for airtimes, and check back here for updates.

Photo courtesy of Catholic Relief Services.

June 6, 2008: After three days of visiting Iraqi refugee organizations and meeting Iraqi refugee families, I have a day to write and prepare for the shoot that begins tomorrow. The stories of suffering in Iraq and subsequent frustration in Syria pile up, and I feel I need a short break.

I visited the Syrian National museum where there is a photo exhibition showcasing the work of Iraqi children, sponsored by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and UNICEF. And, once again, I see these young faces, open and smiling, but there is always something very sad and questioning in the way they look at you.

I enter the main exhibition and turn toward the Roman period. The center of the hall is occupied by a tomb-like monument of a patriarch. Sculpted in pink marble, he doesn’t look too old and has a proud face. He looks down at us from his high pedestal. The monument is not dated. I turn to an old Arab man — I don’t know if he is a visitor or an employee here — to ask him if he knows whose tomb this is this and from which period.

The man doesn’t understand my question. He just smiles and looks at the sculpture and turns back to me – “American … Iraq, no?”

I tried to make a photo but it’s forbidden in the museum.

Tania Rahkmanova has made dozens of documentary films on historical and political themes. Iraqi Exodusis her second WIDE ANGLE film — the first was the award-winning Greetings from Grozny. She holds a Ph.D. in applied statistics and has worked as a print and documentary journalist.

May 31, 2008: If a night at the theater begins with checking your coat in the cloakroom, then a documentary film shoot begins with passing border patrol.

At 10 p.m., I landed in the Damascus airport from Paris. The airport is rather small and our flight from Paris is the only one passing the border control.

Though my tourist visa is still valid, I was told by the Syrian Embassy that I needed a special one for my shoot. Before I left France, the Syrian Ministry of Information provided me with a letter to confirm that the “extension” of my already valid passport would be issued when I arrive in Syria.

I went directly to the officer at the border to show him the letter and my passport. He gives me a hearty grin and stamps my passport, but is perplexed by the letter. In five minutes I am surrounded by immigration officers, who are all looking at my visa and the letter (which is written in English). They don’t seem to understand, nor are they interested that I’m a journalist. Perhaps they don’t see journalists often.

I can’t do much here, so I take my passport and with great relief, I enter into Syria.

I was often told that Syrian security system and military were trained by the Russians. I don’t know. I can hardly imagine a Russian military smiling to a foreign journalist bidding him, “Welcome to Russia.” If I tried to argue with the Russian security at the border I would be escorted into their office, searched and questioned and then probably let into the country. Here in Damascus the rules are strict but people are very nice and welcoming.

The next day at the Information Ministry they reassured me that my visa is not a problem, I can make my film as long as I have permission to film and one of their employees accompanies me during the shoot.

Tania Rahkmanova has made dozens of documentary films on historical and political themes. Iraqi Exodus is her second WIDE ANGLE film — the first was the award-winning Greetings from Grozny. She holds a Ph.D. in applied statistics and has worked as a print and documentary journalist.

June 12, 2008: Yesterday I met an Iraqi journalist named Fadhle. He is currently a refugee living in France but was visiting Syria. Fadhle was a very famous journalist in one of the main Iraqi newspapers. I won’t be using him for Iraqi Exodus, but I’d like to share his story here.

He was threatened by Mehdi army and several members of his family were killed. While he received political asylum in France, his family did not. The family has not seen each other in three years.

Fadhle’s wife and son remained in Baghdad because they couldn’t afford to leave — even to go to Syria. Fadhle had just enough money to fly to Damascus and bring his family from Baghdad. Here, they have enough money to live together for a month.

At the end of June, he will return to France and his family will go back to Baghdad, where they live in one of the most dangerous parts of the city. We met in one of Damascus’ new chic cafes. He came with his son.

“Sorry, to bring my boy,” Fadhle said. “When I told him on the phone that we’ll meet in Syria, he didn’t believe me. He though we would never see each other again. And now he all he want is to be with me, all the time.”

“No problem,” I said and smiled at the boy.

“Do you have brothers and sisters?” I asked.

The boy looked at me and there was something so sad in his big green eyes.

“Well, yes, I had another son and a daughter,” the father said as he took the son’s hand. “They were killed by militia at our home in front of my wife and my son.”

God, I tried to change the subject and told the boy that I also lived in France and he looked at me straight in the eyes.

“Will we go to France with papa?”

What could I say?

“Yes, you will go to France, I hope you will, but not now, maybe in three months, maybe in six or in a year.”

…But not this time, this time you have to go back to Iraq.

Tania Rahkmanova has made dozens of documentary films on historical and political themes. Iraqi Exodus is her second WIDE ANGLE film — the first was the award-winning Greetings from Grozny. She holds a Ph.D. in applied statistics and has worked as a print and documentary journalist.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that more than 4.7 million Iraqis have left their homes, including 2.7 million displaced internally and 2 million exiled in neighboring countries, primarily in Syria and Jordan. While many Iraqis were displaced prior to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the largest number has fled in the last five years.

Advocacy groups and lawmakers have criticized the U.S. government for doing little to admit Iraqi refugees in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion. In response, the government opened its first permanent office in Baghdad for Iraqi refugees seeking to settle in the U.S.

Previously, Iraqis had to travel to resettlement offices in Syria, Jordan and Egypt, but the Baghdad refugee processing office, located in the Green Zone, will give Iraqis greater access to file for resettlement in the U.S.

On Tuesday, President Bush also signed a law that would admit 5,000 Iraqis each year for the next five years.

This summer, WIDE ANGLE takes us to Jordan and Syria and into the daily lives of Iraqis caught in the refugee crisis–the biggest in the Middle East since the displacement of Palestinians in 1948.

WIDE ANGLE’s film about the Iraqi refugee crisis in Syria and Jordan premieres on August 19. Check your local listings for airtimes, and check back here for updates.