Yanar Mohammed

Yanar Mohammed (25 November 1960 – 2 March 2026) was an Iraqi feminist and women's rights activist. She was a co-founder and the director of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) and served as the editor of the newspaper Al-Mousawat (Equality). Mohammed started the first shelters for women in Iraq in 2003, protecting them from honor killing and sex trafficking, a network that expanded to 11 houses in five cities by 2018. Between 2003 and 2019, her shelters served more than 800 women. She was assassinated outside her home in Baghdad on 2 March 2026.