In this interview, Dr. Choman Hardi spoke about the events associated with a joint defamation lawsuit brought against Mullah Mazhar Khorasany by twenty-seven human rights activists, headed by Ms. Bahar Munzir.
Funded by the EU, CGDS is producing podcasts, in Kurdish, Arabic and English to promote understanding of gender issues in the region. The following is one of the podcasts produced for the project.
Mullah Mazhar Khorasany utilized his TV channel to insult Kurdish women (calling them “dinosaurs”), endorse polygamy (which has been restricted under Kurdish law since 2008), incite hatred against women‘s rights activists and their organizations, and mobilize his fanbase using religion as a pretext. Mainstream and populist media’s role in providing a platform to radical and conservative imams was also highlighted alongside critiquing the popular religious and cultural discourses that legitimize women’s oppression.