She came from Canada to stand with Iraq’s women — and paid with her life

Yanar Mohammed, 66, a Canadian-Iraqi women’s rights activist and feminist leader, was shot by two unidentified gunmen outside her home in Baghdad on March 2, 2026. She had recently returned from Canada to attend a conference on Yazidi girls who had been enslaved.

Even as she warned of the risks her team faced, Mohammed herself became a victim. “Some days it was hard for activists to arrive at our office safely,” she said in an earlier interview, foreshadowing the violence that would ultimately claim her life.

Mohammed dedicated her life to defending women’s rights in Iraq and abroad, dividing her time between Canada and Iraq. Even though her life was often in danger, she kept helping vulnerable women and was killed because of her courage.

Born in Iraq, Mohammed studied architecture at the University of Baghdad, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in 1984 and a master’s degree in 1993.

She and her family moved to Canada to escape the country’s dire economic situation under international sanctions and Iraq’s dictatorship. 

Adil Ahmed, a Toronto-based civil rights activist, worked with Mohammed and knew her for about 30 years. He began working with her in 1998, a year after she moved to Canada.

“She was passionate about helping women,” Ahmed said. “She supported many women and often visited them, especially Iraqi women, to listen to their concerns and help report their problems so they could receive support as refugees and immigrant women.”

Mohammed became a bridge between refugee women’s organizations and Canadian communities after she expanded her activism in 1998 through the Defence of Iraqi Women’s Rights, a Canadian-registered NGO, Ahmed said.

“She helped Canadians understand the situation of women in Iraq and Kurdistan, and she also spoke about racism that refugee women faced in Canada,” he said.

Mohammed spoke at universities and in the media, gaining financial and emotional support from Canadian public figures for her dedication and impact, Ahmed said.

Mohammed returned to Iraq after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and  became co-founder and president of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI). She established the country’s first women’s shelter to protect women from trafficking and so-called honour killings, making her a frequent target of death threats. By 2019, OWFI had grown into a network of 11 safe houses across five cities, providing protection to hundreds of vulnerable women.

“Muslim-Arab women who were enslaved by ISIL and have not found a place to go back to, they are still living in the shadows of society,” she said. 

In an earlier interview, Mohammedr said of her work, “I focus on protecting women in Iraq from the crimes of patriarchy. The government has allowed an agenda that ignores women’s rights.”

Mohammed’s OWFI was supported by Canadian and international organizations, and to honour her work, she received the Gruber Prize for Women’s Rights in 2008 and Norway’s Rafto Prize in 2016.

Canadians React to Yanar’s Assassination

Mohammed’s assassination sparked national and international outrage, including condemnation from Amnesty International Canada and The Equality Fund, though Ahmed noted that many mainstream Canadian media outlets and formal institutions did not publicly denounce her killing, and neither Prime Minister Mark Carney nor Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand issued an official statement at the time.

“She became a true voice for voiceless women in Iraq and abroad,” Ahmed said. “She gave up her life in Canada to return to Iraq, where she saved thousands of women, confronted violence against them, challenged government institutions and militias, fought for legal reforms, and worked to change public attitudes and harmful practices.”

Dashne Nariman, a Vancouver-based women’s rights defender, commented on Facebook about MohammedMohammed’s assassination, highlighting the dangers women activists in Iraq face and Mohammed’s courage. Her death shows the risks people take when fighting for freedom and justice.

“The assassination of comrade Yanar shows that freedom-seeking women in Iraq live only a breath from death. They struggle against oppression with their own blood. Her death is devastating, but how powerful it is when someone fights to their last breath for freedom and liberation!”

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Diary Marif is a Vancouver-based Kurdish writer and award-winning journalist born in Iraq. He holds a master’s degree in history from Pune University in India (2013). His journalism has appeared in national and international outlets, including Rabble, Canadian Dimension, CBC Arts, Culturico, The Amargi, and The Canadian Encyclopedia. Since 2018, Marif has centred his creative work on memoir and personal narrative, exploring his experiences as a child of war. He has written chapter books for multiple projects and has appeared as a storyteller in public spaces. He received an Honourable Mention for the 2022 Susan Crean Award for Nonfiction, is a 2025 recipient of the Yosef Wosk Vancouver Manuscript Intensive Fellowship, and was awarded PEN Canada’s 2025 Marie-Ange Garrigue Prize.