Yanar Mohammed

Yanar Mohammed is the Director of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, a "group that works to stop atrocities against Iraqi women and defend their rights. "One of their main projects is the development of a battered women's shelter in Baghdad to protect women who are fleeing from violence and 'honor killings.'" "The shelter her organization helped open in Iraq has saved over 250 women from honor killings."

Yanar Mohammed "remains a key speaker on behalf of Iraqi women and also works as editor in chief of a newspaper called Equality (Al-Mousawat). After only three issues, Yanar received a court summons for writing a story rejecting compulsory veils for women in Baghdad." 


 * Global Fund for Women: Advisory Council 2005-06

Profiles
Yanar Mohammed was born in 1960 in Baghdad. "She spent many years organizing against the Baath regime dictatorship. She witnessed the eighties' war with Iran, the invasion of Kuwait, the catastrophic 'Desert Storm,' and the devastating economic sanctions that followed. She graduated from Baghdad University in 1984, obtaining a Master's Degree in Architecture in 1993. She left Iraq for Canada in 1995." 

"In Canada, Yanar Mohammed has worked with other Iraqi women to establish the Defense of Iraqi Womenâ??s Rights (DIWR) 1998. The group changed its name this past June [2003] to The Organization of Womenâ??s Freedom, and is located within Iraq." 

"Ms. Mohammed is also a member of the Worker Communist Party of Iraq (WCP) The WCP is a young grassroots party, founded in 1993, that differs from the traditional Communist Party in its critique of Soviet Union-style communism; its strong opposition to Islamic fundamentalism; and its emphasis on human liberation, political freedom and the original teachings of Marx. WCP is the only political party in Iraq that has lent its full and active support to the struggle for women's rights." 

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * Iraqi Constitution and women's rights
 * Iraqi national elections
 * New Iraq
 * Post-war Iraq

2003

 * "Yanar Mohammed speaks in NYC!" Equality in Iraq, October 23, 2003.

2004

 * Amy Goodman, "This War Has Unleashed The Freedom For Political Islam To Oppress Women. Leading Iraqi Feminist Yanar Mohammed Dicusses the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq," Democracy Now!, January 5, 2004.
 * "Iraqi Women's Rights Activist Receives Death Threat from Islamist Group: MADRE Launches Campaign to Protect Yanar Mohammed," MADRE, February 5, 2004.
 * "Committee to Defend Yanar Mohammed," Pravda, February 20, 2004.
 * "Assassination threat against Yanar Mohammed by Islamists in Iraq," Pravda, February 28, 2004.
 * "'Our Lives Are Worse Now': Yanar Mohammed Talks About The Impact Of The U.S. Occupation On The Lives Of Iraqi Women. An Interview With Lucinda Marshall," Awakened Woman, June 24, 2004.
 * Yanar Mohammed, "Letter from Baghdad. A Democracy of Killings and Bombings," CounterPunch, August 21/22, 2004.
 * Yanar Mohammed, Voices from Iraq: Letters from Iraq: "A Democracy of Killings and Bombings," Voices in the Wilderness, August 23, 2004.
 * Amy Goodman, "Iraqi Activist Yanar Mohammed - 'U.S. Troops Have To Leave Now And We Will Take Care Of Iraq'," Democracy Now!, September 13, 2004.
 * "An Interview with Yanar Mohammed, Chair of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq," WHRnet.org, October 2004.
 * Bill Weinberg, "The Civil Opposition in Iraq. Part 3. An Interview with Yanar Mohammed of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq," ww3report.com, August 9, 2004.
 * Pamela Hess, "Women's rights become a struggle in Iraq," UPI, August 14, 2004.

2005

 * Bryan Wassel, "Mohammed: Iraqi women were 'better off' under Hussein," Signal Online, April 13, 2005.
 * Mitchell Prothero, "Under the clerics' thumbs. Women's rights groups in the Middle East fear that Iraqi women will be the biggest losers in the country's new Constitution," Salon, August 13, 2005.
 * Yanar Mohammed, "Yanar Mohammed speaks on Iraq's pending constitution," ww4report.com, August 16, 2005.
 * Amy Goodman, Yanar Mohammed: "Draft Constitution May Strip Iraqi Women of Basic Human Rights," Democracy Now! (aliraqi.org), August 25, 2005. Includes rush transcript.