Iraqi women’s rights activist Yanar Mohammed has been assassinated in Baghdad

On 2 March 2026, Iraqi women’s rights activist Yanar Mohammed was assassinated outside her home in Baghdad. This is not an isolated incident. Time and again, women who play a leading role in society are targeted and murdered. Examples include Rosa Luxemburg, Nagihan Arkasel, Jiyan Tolhildan, Sakine Canzis and Berta Caceres, who represent thousands of women. These are not attacks against individual women, but rather attacks against the goals of freedom, equality and the vision that another world is possible. A vision and a struggle that is particularly significant in these days, when the attempt to create a new Middle East is no less important.

 

Yanar Mohammed, who was born in Baghdad in 1960 and lived in Toronto for several years, was an architect, human rights activist and one of Iraq’s most prominent feminist voices. She was a co-founder of the Organisation Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) and campaigned for democracy, women’s rights and social justice for many years. She was particularly committed to helping women who were victims of violence, forced marriage and human trafficking. With her help, shelters were set up where hundreds of women found refuge. Despite repeated threats and public incitement, she continued her work unabated.

We remember her and we know that her path will be continued by thousands. The spirit and struggle of free women cannot be killed.