Gender-equality activists say the killing of Iraqi women\u2019s rights advocate Yanar Mohammed, a Toronto resident who spent decades fighting for women\u2019s freedom in Iraq, is a devastating loss but not the end of the movement she helped build.<\/p>\n
Mohammed, who opened the first women\u2019s shelter in Iraq and founded a network of safe houses for women escaping violence, was shot outside her home in Baghdad on March 2. She later died in hospital from her injuries after two gunmen on motorcycles carried out what local media have described as a targeted attack.<\/p>\n
Born in Baghdad, Mohammed fled Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War and the economic sanctions that followed. She eventually settled in Canada in 1995 with her husband and child, securing refugee status and working as an architect in Toronto.<\/p>\n
Despite building a life in Canada, Mohammed remained deeply connected to the struggle for women\u2019s rights in her homeland. After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, she became increasingly active in advocacy and co-founded the Organization of Women\u2019s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI).<\/p>\n
Through OWFI, Mohammed launched Iraq\u2019s first women\u2019s shelter and later expanded the effort into a network of safe houses supporting women fleeing domestic violence, honour killings, and exploitation. The organization also provided refuge and counselling for Yazidi women who survived sexual slavery under the Islamic State group, as well as other survivors of rape and human trafficking.<\/p>\n
Jess Tomlin, co-founder of the Equality Fund, said Mohammed\u2019s courage and moral clarity made her a powerful voice in both grassroots activism and global policy circles. Mohammed frequently travelled between Toronto and Baghdad, often leaving Canada every few months to continue her work despite the dangers she faced.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew she had a target on her back,\u201d Tomlin said, adding that Mohammed felt compelled to continue advocating for women even in the face of threats.<\/p>\n
Mohammed also spoke out against both the social restrictions placed on women in Iraq and the political instability that followed the U.S. invasion. In a 2006 interview with the feminist organization Madre, she criticized the rise of Islamist factions that she said were undermining women\u2019s rights and democratic progress.<\/p>\n
In recent years, Mohammed had been challenging religious legal interpretations in Iraqi courts, including efforts to oppose laws granting fathers sole custody rights over children. Activists say her legal battles and outspoken criticism of powerful groups likely made her a target.<\/p>\n
The week she died, Mohammed had been organizing a conference examining the role of ISIS in the abuse of Yazidi women.<\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s embassy in Baghdad joined other international partners in condemning her killing, describing her as a tireless defender of women\u2019s rights who provided vital support to survivors of violence. Diplomats called her death a \u201cprofound loss\u201d to Iraq\u2019s civil society and women\u2019s movement.<\/p>\n
Mohammed\u2019s family has asked for privacy, but those close to her say she remained passionate about art, intellectual debate and activism throughout her life.<\/p>\n
Despite the tragedy, fellow activists say Mohammed believed strongly that the global struggle for gender equality would continue.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe would be saying, \u2018Don\u2019t you dare turn your eyes away from this,\u2019\u201d Tomlin said, urging people to keep women\u2019s rights at the centre of global conversations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gender-equality activists say the killing of Iraqi women\u2019s rights advocate Yanar Mohammed, a Toronto resident who spent decades fighting for women\u2019s freedom in Iraq, is a devastating loss but not the end of the movement she helped build. Mohammed, who opened the first women\u2019s shelter in Iraq and founded a network of safe houses for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":15633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[3672,17561,17560,17557,17562,17559,17554,17555,17556,17553,17558],"class_list":["post-15630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-amat","tag-civil-society-activists-iraq-violence","tag-feminist-foreign-policy-canada-advocacy","tag-gender-equality-activism-iraq","tag-global-womens-rights-movement-leaders","tag-honour-killing-safe-houses-iraq","tag-iraqi-womens-rights-activist-killed","tag-organization-of-womens-freedom-in-iraq-founder","tag-toronto-activist-iraq-women-shelters","tag-yanar-mohammed-death-baghdad","tag-yazidi-women-survivors-support-owfi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}