Who Was Yanar Mohammed? Iraqi Women's Rights Activist Shot Dead

Iraqi women’s rights activist Yanar Mohammed was shot by two unidentified gunmen outside her home in Baghdad on March 2. The attackers, riding motorcycles, opened fire before fleeing the scene. Mohammed was rushed to a nearby hospital but later died from her injuries. No organisation or group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

Mohammed was the founder of the Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq. She spent decades running safe houses that rescued hundreds of women from honour killings, trafficking, and abuse.

A Life Dedicated to Women’s Freedom

Following the news of her death, the organisation released a statement describing the killing as “a direct attack on the feminist struggle and the values of freedom and equality.”

After years of living in Canada, she returned to Iraq shortly after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. She helped establish Baghdad’s first known safe house for women facing violence.

The shelters offered something many of these women had never had before, which was protection. She knew the risk that came with returning to Iraq, explaining her decision as “something that I just have to do.”

Over the years, the organisation she built quietly expanded its network of shelters and safe houses. By 2018, nearly a thousand women had been rescued from violent situations through these efforts.

In 2006, Yanar Mohammed spoke at the World Social Forum in Caracas, Venezuela. In 2018, she was named among the BBC 100 Women. She also studied at the University of Toronto, where she wrote a master’s thesis titled “Theorising Feminist Struggle in Post-War Iraq 2003–2018.”

Mohammed also criticised proposed Iraqi laws that would strengthen Shia religious rules in family law, giving husbands greater power over divorce and child custody and easing restrictions on child marriage. In 2024, Mohammed received the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law. 

Violence against women in Iraq has witnessed a rapid increase in recent years, with high-profile female activists often being targeted and killed.