Yanar Mohammed

Yanar Mohammed (1960 - 2026)

Iraqi architect, feminist and women's rights activist. Co-founder and

director of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI).

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,

serving more than 800 women.

She was shot and killed outside her home in Baghdad

in 2026 by two unknown men, the victim of

what is widely regarded as a targeted assassination.

She Walks in Beauty, Like the Night

[Robert Wun | Haute Couture Fall Winter 2024/2025]

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellowed to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

-- George Gordon, Lord Byron