Iraq women’s rights defender assassinated News
By Fraktion DIE LINKE. im Bundestag - Irak-Konferenz der Fraktion DIE LINKE. im Bundestag Foto: Uwe SteinertUploaded by indeedous, CC BY 2.0, Link
Iraq women’s rights defender assassinated

Prominent Iraqi women’s rights defender Yanar Mohammed was killed outside her Baghdad residence on March 2 by two unidentified men. No group has claimed responsibility for the assassination.

Iraqi Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani has ordered an investigation into the killing. International human rights organizations are urging authorities to identify the perpetrators and halt a continuing pattern of targeted attacks against activists in the country.

Mohammed was the co-founder and director of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI). She was widely recognized for her work supporting women facing gender-based violence, which included establishing a network of safe houses across several Iraqi cities.

The assassination comes amid a deteriorating environment for women’s rights in Iraq. In February 2025, despite widespread opposition, the Iraqi government implemented amendments to the Personal Status Law. The revisions eliminated the legal marriage age of 18 and removed key protections regarding divorce and inheritance.

Human rights groups heavily criticized the legislation prior to its enactment. Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned the revisions for lowering the minimum age of marriage below international legal standards.

Razaw Salihy, Amnesty International’s Iraq researcher, also stated regarding the law:  “Not only does child marriage deprive girls of their education, but married girls are more vulnerable to sexual and physical abuse, and health risks related to early pregnancy.”

Following Mohammed’s death, rights groups srtessed the government’s failure to protect activists. HRW argued that the assassination was entirely preventable, and aligns with a pattern of high-profile killings of human rights defenders in Iraq over the past decade.

Addressing the broader issue, Amnesty International stated: “The persistent failure of the Iraqi authorities to hold perpetrators accountable for past assassinations has entrenched a climate of impunity that continues to place activists at grave and fatal risk.”

THIS DAY @ LAW

Julius Caesar assassinated on Ides of March

Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated at the Roman Forum by a number of his own senators led by Marcus Brutus on March 15, 44 BC over concerns that he was becoming too powerful. The assassination wound up being a political failure as the Roman citizenry ended up becoming incensed at the conspirators and a civil war broke out, which Brutus and his supporters lost to Mark Antony and Octavian (later Augustus). William Shakespeare later wrote in his eponymous play about the assassination, "Beware the ides of March." Learn more about the assassination of Julius Caesar.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg born

US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born on March 15, 1933.

Learn more about Justice Ginsburg from Oyez, the Supreme Court multimedia project at Northwestern University.

Code Napoleon promulgated

On March 15, 1803, the Code Napoleon (French Civil Code) was promulgated in France. The Code is considered the first successful legal code in Europe and is still used today as the basis for the modern French Civil Code. Napoleon's conquests spread his Code across the European Continent, influencing modern legal codes in Portugal, Austria, Italy, and other nations. Read a history of the Code Napoleon.