Yanar Mohammed: Remembering Iraq's prominent feminist and lifelong defender of women's rights

On 2 March 2026, prominent Iraqi human rights defender and feminist Yanar Mohammed was killed in an armed attack at her home in northern Baghdad.

Her 'crime'? Saving hundreds of women in Iraq from violence and murder.

That commitment to protecting others had made her a target for years. As she worked to create safe spaces and fight for women's rights, she faced constant threats from anti-rights and fundamentalist groups.

In the end, the dangers she had long warned about became a tragic reality, but those who knew her say she should be remembered not for her death, but for the lives she saved and the change she brought to her country.

To understand that legacy, it is important to look back at where her journey began. Born in Baghdad in 1960, Yanar grew up during a period of political upheaval and conflict in Iraq, later graduating from Baghdad University in 1984 and completing a Master’s degree in Architecture in 1993.

Although she trained as an architect, Yanar's life gradually shifted towards activism, and in the years before her death, she divided her time between Iraq and Canada while keeping her focus firmly on Iraqi women.

Her activism took clearer shape after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. As violence increased and institutions weakened, she saw the urgent need for protection for women and girls. In 2004, she founded the Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI). Its purpose was direct: to protect women, girls and other marginalised people from violence, displacement and repression.

From the beginning, her work was practical. Through OWFI, she opened two women's shelters in Baghdad and Kirkuk and established several safe houses.

Providing food and safety for survivors of domestic abuse, these shelters also protected hundreds of women facing so-called ‘honour killings’, offering refuge and support at a time when many had nowhere else to turn.

However, this work brought serious consequences. Almost immediately after founding the organisation, she began receiving death threats.

Over the years, despite repeated attempts to close the shelters and campaigns of defamation and legal action against her, Yanar refused to step back and instead called for solidarity from the international women’s movement.

That call led to lasting international partnerships. The US-based organisation MADRE responded by highlighting her work and pressing US policymakers to act.

Over the following decades, MADRE and OWFI worked together to deliver humanitarian aid, human rights training, and community-led organising for peace and justice across Iraq, while also providing advocacy and legal support to help OWFI keep its shelters open.

As her profile grew, she also used international media to expose abuses affecting women and girls. In 2019, she appeared in the BBC documentary Undercover With The Clerics – Iraq’s Secret Sex Trade, reported by Yemeni-British broadcast journalist Nawal Maghafi. 

The investigation found that some clerics were selling young girls for sex, with certain Shia clerics using a practice known as 'pleasure marriage' to groom vulnerable girls and young women, and in the programme, she warned that the rise of clerical power after the war had been damaging for women's rights, saying, "There were laws that protected women. It seems that all the things that we gained in decades of hard work were lost."

Tributes pour in

By the time of her death in 2026, Yanar had become one of Iraq's most recognised feminist voices, and news of her assassination prompted tributes from across Iraq and beyond, reflecting the reach of her work.

Tanya Gilly Khailany, Vice President and co-founder of SEED, said she was "shocked and deeply saddened" by the killing.

She added, "She was a fearless and unwavering advocate for women's rights and social justice in Iraq. She spoke her mind, stood up for what she believed was right, and worked tirelessly to protect the most vulnerable in society. Her work changed countless lives for the better.

"What happened to Yanar is an egregious act intended to silence women and create fear and prevent women's activists from continuing to fight for equal rights and access to justice. Such cowardly acts expose how powerful and necessary women's voices truly are in fighting against the repression and subsequent regression of women's and children's rights in Iraq.

"Yanar's legacy will live on, and the critical work of women leaders across the country will continue because, together, men and women are necessary for peace, prosperity and a brighter future for all."

Academic voices also reflected on the wider context of her life and death. Taif Alkhudary, from the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge, described her as a leading feminist activist.

"As the founder of OWFI, she established domestic violence shelters for survivors, doing this very dangerous work when the government has repeatedly been unable to do so. As a consequence, she was subjected to a years-long campaign of defamation, and a number of legal cases were brought against her, which culminated in her assassination amid massive pushback against women's and girls' rights in Iraq and globally and increasingly shrinking civil space.

"Yanar's legacy will be remembered and live on not only through all the women and girls that she helped, but also all the activists she inspired and trained," Taif shared. 

Journalists who had followed Iraq’s modern history also paid tribute. Arwa Damon, former CNN senior correspondent and founder of the International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance, recalled meeting her for the first time in 2003.

"I interviewed her numerous times, whether about the US invasion of Iraq, her efforts to ensure that women’s rights were not sidelined, or in later years her work protecting women who had been abused, sold into sexual slavery, or needed a safe haven," she said.

"She was not just a titan for women’s rights in Iraq; she was a titan for all of us. She exuded a strength that gave strength to those around her. She never wavered, speaking out against all, from the Americans to the various militias, and remained centred on her mission: protecting women and fighting for Iraq."

Highlighting the broader implications of her death, Afrah Ahmed Almatwari, an Arabic translator at The New Arab and former research assistant at the LSE Middle East Centre, where she focused on Iraq's sectarian distribution, political parties, and armed groups after 2003, said the assassination reflects the increasing pressure on civil society activists in Iraq.

"The assassination of Yanar Mohammed highlights the growing suppression of civil society activism in Iraq, particularly voices defending women's rights. There has been a sharp rise in violence against women and children in recent years. Women are in real danger in Iraq, and there is an urgent need for the Iraqi authorities to protect them.

"In fact, targeting activists and intellectuals started in 2019 and has never stopped since then. Whenever there is any crisis erupting in the country, like the time we are in now, these assassinations resurface again as the perpetrators utilise the chaos to target those who do not agree with them," she explained. 

In the end, those closest to her say she understood the risks that came with her work.

Still, she believed it had to continue. Her legacy now lives on in the shelters she founded, the activists she mentored and, above all, in the women and girls whose lives were saved because she refused to stay silent.

Zainab Mehdi is The New Arab's Associate Editor and researcher specialising in governance, development, and conflict in the Middle East and North Africa region 

Follow her on Instagram: @zaiamehdi_/@zainabmehdiwrites_