Female Peshmerga Fighters In The Mountains - Iraq

Hadiyeh, a 25-year-old Peshmerga recruit from Saqqez in Iranian Kurdistan, reads inside her room in Erbil, Iraq, on April 16, 2023. She left her homeland in 2020, citing systemic gender discrimination, restrictions on non-Islamic religions, and a lack of freedom of speech under the Iranian government. A significant number of Kurdish women have joined the Peshmerga, viewing exile and armed resistance as their only means of challenging the Iranian regime and asserting their rights. Photo by Keiwan Fatehi/Middle East Images/ABACAPRESS.COM