Category: Article

Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq – OWFI: Stop mass executions in Iraq.

We at the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq are very concerned and dismayed by the wave of executions which are taking place in the so called “new Iraq”.  We have learnt through new reports published by Human Rights Watch, that since the beginning of 2012, Iraq has executed at least 65 prisoners, 51 of …

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Freedom, corruption and terror

Houzan Mahmoud born in Kurdistan-Iraq in 1973; she is a socialist campaigner, activist for women’s rights in Kurdistan, Iraq and Middle East. When you meet an extraordinary person, it can be in the most mundane of places. Our interview with Houzan Mahmoud, of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) and Socialist- Feminist activist, …

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Fighting for Gender Equality in Iraq

Yanar Mohammed says the U.S. invasion and occupation hurt women’s rights. As President Obama hailed the “extraordinary achievement” of U.S. troops withdrawing from Iraq in December, continuing protests against government repression and abysmal basic services undermined the narrative of a successful democratic transition.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.owfi.info/article/fighting-for-gender-equality-in-iraq/

Kurdish Activists: Women’s Abuse Under-Reported

RUDAW — Nearly 4,000 cases of violence were recorded in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2011 including 720 cases of systematic torture, the government reported last week, but women’s activists say the numbers are severely under-reported.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.owfi.info/article/kurdish-activists-womens-abuse-under-reported/

‘Hükümetimiz kadın karşıtı’

Irak ve Güney Kürdistan’da kadının içinde bulunduğu durum her gün iç kanatmaya devam ediyor. İslamcı köktendinciliğin sarmalında yaşayan Irak ve Güney Kürdistanlı kadınlar için gelecek, belirsizliklerle dolu. 2003 yılında Saddam rejiminin yıkılması kadınlara yeni bir şey getirmediği gibi, Irak anayasasını kendisine referans alan Yerel Hükümet de, muhafazakar ve gerici gelenekleri teşvik eden bir politika izlemekten …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.owfi.info/article/hukumetimiz-kadin-karsiti/

This government of ethnic and sectarian divisions does not represent Iraqis in any way.

Yanar Mohammed, one of Iraq’s most prominent feminists, speaks to Ceasefire deputy editor Musab Younis about the Arab Spring, the withdrawal of US troops and the prospects for democracy and equality in her country.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.owfi.info/article/this-government-of-ethnic-and-sectarian-divisions-does-not-represent-iraqis-in-any-way/

Campaigning for women’s rights in Iraq

When you meet an extraordinary person, it can be in the most mundane of places. Our interview with Houzan Mahmoud, of the Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), a socialist-feminist activist, was carried out in a softly-lit, sleek little café, not far from Hampstead station.

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Building Feminist Resistance and Hope in Iraq

Whereas the world in 2011 has heard of the Arab Spring and the thousands who gathered in Tahrir Square in Cairo, very few have heard of the Day of Anger – 25 February.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.owfi.info/article/building-feminist-resistance-and-hope-in-iraq/

Iraqi Women’s Activist Rebuffs U.S. Claims of a Freer Iraq: “This Is Not a Democratic Country”

Yanar Mohammed, president of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, joins us to discuss the impact of the nearly nine-year U.S. occupation, particularly on Iraqi women. “The Iraqi cities are now much more destroyed than they were, I would say, like five years ago,” Mohammed says. “In the same time, we have turned to …

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Iraqi voices: For women, freedoms under fire

When I first met Yanar Mohammed in 2003, she was holding a megaphone and leading a women’s rally in Baghdad’s Firdos Square, standing in the shadow of a pedestal where a statue of Saddam Hussein had stood until U.S. tanks dragged it to the ground a few weeks earlier.  With a head of uncovered dark …

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Message of Solidarity to Occupy Wall Street from the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq

Dear Occupy Wall Street, The people of the world are watching you, following your news and hoping that – rather than just vent your anger and frustration – you achieve all of your dreams. While democracy should guarantee all people an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives, you find yourselves forced to …

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20 year old OWFI activist Aya Al Lamie Kidnapped from Tahrir Square and tortured

Although the numbers of demonstrators became much less in the Iraqi Tahrir square, Aya Al Lamie insisted to join the demonstrators every Friday of the last months. She insisted to put a woman’s face on the Tahrir demonstrations and cooperated with all the organized groups in the square.

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Yanar Mohammed — Iraqi Women’s Vigilant Champion

Although the focus of many media reports has been on Egypt’s Tahrir Square, there is another Tahrir Square that demands our attention — the one in Baghdad. On Friday, June 10, members of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) were attacked and sexually molested as they gathered there to make demands.

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Iraqi Human Rights Activists Protesting for Democracy Are Sexually Assaulted and Beaten

June 10, 2011 – New York, NY – Today, MADRE learned that pro-democracy activists who gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square were brutally attacked by un-uniformed forces. MADRE’s Iraqi partner group, the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), states that activists who gathered in the square to continue their weeks of protests for democracy, jobs …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.owfi.info/article/iraqi-human-rights-activists-protesting-for-democracy-are-sexually-assaulted-and-beaten/