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Iraq
Mashreq · Levant
Documenting violations against journalists and activists, supporting accountability for past crimes, and tracking civic space in Iraq.
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Our position on Iraq
We call for accountability for the killings of activists and journalists in Iraq, the protection of those still under threat, and the dismantling of armed-actor impunity that continues to constrain civic space.
— HuMENA
The Region, Connected
No country in MENA stands alone.
This country sits at the centre of the threads HuMENA follows — across borders where defenders flee, refugees move, and accountability converges.
Signature
Where our work concentrates here.
Five strategic areas — Civic Space, Defenders, Digital Rights, Governance, Diaspora. Bar height shows the depth of HuMENA's coverage in that area for this country.
Civic Space
Defending freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly.
Defenders
Protection support and case advocacy for defenders at risk.
Digital Rights
Surveillance accountability and digital safety for civil society.
Governance
Fair-trial monitoring, judicial independence, and inclusive governance.
Diaspora
Cross-border protection and amplification of exiled voices.
Chronicle
A working record of our interventions.
Statements, reports, advocacy moments, defender cases. Chronological. Growing.
Mar 2026
PRESS RELEASES
Mar 2026
NEWS
May 2025
PRESS RELEASES
Jul 2024
LEGAL & POLITICAL ANALYSIS
Jan 2021
JOINT STATEMENTS
May 2020
JOINT STATEMENTS
At the international level
Where this work meets the institutions.
HuMENA carries documentation into the mechanisms with the most leverage — UN bodies, EU institutions, and joint civil-society coalitions.
UNAMI
Civil-society engagement on protection
UN HRC
Joint statements on defenders at risk
Joint advocacy
With Iraqi NGOs
Defenders
The people behind the work.
HuMENA stands with human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, and activists. Where their identities can be public, we credit them. Where they cannot, we protect them.
On trial
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Ali Akram al-Bayati
Physician and human rights defender; former Commissioner of Iraq's High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR), documenting violations during the 2019 protests.
Ali Akram al-Bayati, a physician and former IHCHR Commissioner, faces defamation charges for documenting torture claims while serving Iraq's national human rights…
Under restrictionDelsoz Khalaf
Director of the Dabin Organisation for Democratic Development and Human Rights; labour-rights, women's-rights, and anti-corruption advocate.
Delsoz Khalaf leads a human rights organisation in Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. She faces two criminal complaints filed by a Workers'…
ReleasedJassim Al-Asadi
Environmental scientist, academic, and wetland specialist; co-founder and director of Nature Iraq, working to protect and restore the marshlands of Southern Iraq.
Jassim Al-Asadi, Iraq's leading expert on the southern marshlands, was kidnapped near Baghdad by an unknown armed group, tortured for fifteen days,…
DetainedMA
Murtadha Al-Janoubi
Environmental activist; documenting marsh degradation, water policy impacts on livelihoods, and ecosystem decline in Maysan Governorate.
Environmental activist documenting the degradation of Maysan's marshes, arrested after participating in protests demanding fair water allocations for communities facing drought and…
SentencedSherwan Sherwani
Journalist and human rights defender; chief editor of Ashur magazine; active member of the human rights organisation 17 Shubat, focusing on corruption and prisoners' rights.
Kurdish journalist who investigated corruption and prisoners' rights in Iraqi Kurdistan, arrested in 2020 amid a crackdown on protests, sentenced to six…
Under restrictionTanya Darwish
Director of Rasan Organisation; woman human rights defender working on women's and LGBTIQ+ rights in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Tanya Darwish led Rasan Organisation, the only LGBTIQ+ rights group in Iraqi Kurdistan, until a court ordered its closure over a rainbow…
Publications
Reports, statements, and analyses.
Iraq | Arrest of Environmental Activist Murtadha Al-Janoubi and Peaceful Protesters in Maysan
Iraq | The Assassination of Yanar Mohammed: A Crime Against Every Woman Who Dared to Resist
Iraq’s Protest Ban Is an Arbitrary Measure That Undermines the Right to Peaceful Assembly
The AIMC must end its role in transnational repression, say NGOs
Timeline of Peaceful Assemblies in Lebanon: Scattered Victories and Building an Opposition Movement
Four years on, peaceful Iraqi protesters remain missing
Bahrain: Open letter to Danish Prime Minister to take immediate action to free Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja
Yemen: Over 150 NGOs appeal for death sentences of four journalists to be overturned
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