No Honor in Killing

by Lorna Tychostup, March 26, 2008

“A woman is like an olive tree. When its branch catches woodworm, it has to be chopped off so that the society remains clean and pure.”
—Islamic tribal leader

It is a consummate and compelling love story that takes place in the conservative societal arena of modern-day Amman, Jordan. A couple’s forbidden love (she is Muslim, he is Christian, there is hand holding and two kisses, during secret, albeit chaperoned meetings) is discovered by the girl’s family. The young woman’s actions brings dishonor to her entire family. The only way to remove the stain is to kill her. Her father and brother stab her repeatedly, allowing her to bleed out before an ambulance is called.

Published in 2003, Norma Khouri’s Honor Lost was released at the right time for such a tale. The war in Iraq was on and all eyes were suddenly turned to the Middle East—especially Western eyes—hungry for such an inner glimpse into the “realities” of the region. However, an 18-month investigation revealed that what originally sold as a memoir recounting her childhood friend’s murder at the hands of the girl’s father actually was fiction. Born in Jordan, Khouri moved to Chicago with her family at age three, later married and birthed two children, and in 1999 fled for Australia with the FBI reportedly at her heels regarding a series of possible criminal property transactions.

Contrasting with Khouri’s fiction is the large body of investigative work on the issues surrounding honor killings done by Jordan Times journalist and human rights activist Rana Husseini over the past 15 years. Ironically, a parting note in Khour’s book heralded Husseini as an important force who helped to shed light on Jordan’s honor killings and reprinted­—without her permission—her e-mail address. Receiving e-mails from concerned people worldwide, Husseini read Khouri’s book and immediately flagged numerous inaccuracies and falsehoods. Taking her findings to the Jordanian National Committee for Women (JNCW), Husseini was asked to spearhead a page-by-page investigation which eventually uncovered dozens of serious errors with Khouri’s book. These revelations came after Honor Lost sold over 200,000 copies in Australia alone and had been translated into 17 languages.

The JNCW sent the results of the investigation to Khouri’s publishers in the US and Australia. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Random House Australia replied: “Following our discussions with Norma we are satisfied that, while some names and places have been changed to protect individuals’ identities, [Khouri’s book] is a true and honest account of her experiences.” Husseini’s own fact-based book (Murder in the Name of Honor, to be released in the US later this year), submitted to the same publishers before Khouri completed her fictional memoir, was flatly rejected.