It has been six years since the US-led invasion of Iraq began. Those years have brought both hope and joy as well as death, destruction, and despair for many Iraqis. Regardless of which angle you look at the country from, it is obvious that the people of Iraq have paid a heavy price for their so-called freedom during the last six years.

In a special series of films, Witness highlights some of the untold stories of the ordinary people trapped in the middle of the crisis.  Six Years In Iraq recounts stories of pain and horror but also stories of courage and hope.

The first installment, City of Widows, premieres Monday, May 18 at 8:00pm PT, and follows Zahra, day after day, as she visits police stations, hospitals and morgues in a desperate search for her husband, in disapproval from a society where widows are still expected to be invisible.

Witness airs Mondays at 8:00 pm Pacific and Wednesdays at 7:00 pm Eastern, on DIRECTV 375 and DISH 9410.

Roxana Saberi, fiancé of accomplished Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi, is being held in an Iranian jail under accusations of espionage. Her arrest has sparked widespread outrage, as witnessed in this New York Times editorial. In an open letter posted online, Ghobadi asserts her innocence and expresses that he has become frustrated trying to work as a filmmaker in Iran -- his films banned, released on the black market, and future projects not given authorization.

But Ghobadi says he does not want to leave Iran without Saberi, according to the LA Times.

Bahman Ghobadi's film, A Time for Drunken Horses, has previously been featured in Link TV's CINEMONDO lineup, and in May 2007, Peter Scarlet interviewed Ghobadi in northern Iraq: