News Center — Condemning attempts to suppress women's voice, freedom, and rights, and in solidarity with feminist activist Bahar Ali, the Nada Alliance affirmed that freedom of thought, opinion, and expression is a fundamental human right that cannot be restricted or criminalized due to differences of opinion or interpretation. Democratic societies are built on dialogue, respect for pluralism, and protection of individuals' right to peaceful expression of their opinions—not on intimidation or prosecution.

The women's organizations and figures who are members of the Nada Alliance (the Democratic Women's Alliance in the Middle East and North Africa) announced today, Thursday, July 17, through a statement, their full solidarity with feminist activist Bahar Khoshav Ali Qadir, President of the "Eimi" Organization and a member of the Nada Alliance, in connection with the legal measures taken against her following a complaint related to what was said in a television interview in which she was defending a legal article issued by the Kurdistan Region Parliament.

The statement read: "Comrade Bahar Ali has devoted many years of her life to defending women's rights, combating violence and discrimination, and working to entrench the values of justice, equality, and human rights. Her arrest—even if followed by release on bail—raises grave concerns about the protection of freedom of opinion and expression, and sends an alarming message to all human rights defenders, researchers, intellectuals, journalists, and anyone exercising their right to think, express, and voice opinions."

It affirmed: "Our position is not based on defending a particular opinion or adopting everything mentioned in Comrade Bahar Ali's interview, but is rooted in the established principle that freedom of thought, opinion, and expression is a fundamental human right that cannot be restricted or criminalized due to differences of opinion or interpretation. Democratic societies are built on dialogue, respect for pluralism, and protection of individuals' right to peaceful expression of their opinions—not on intimidation or prosecution."

The statement stressed that international covenants, foremost the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, guarantee every person's right to hold opinions without interference and to freedom of expression, including the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media. "We do not demand exceptional treatment for Ms. Bahar Ali; rather, we demand respect for her rights guaranteed by national laws and international agreements, and the guarantee of her right to a fair trial, the preservation of her dignity, and that intellectual differences not be turned into criminal cases."

It added: "The Kurdistan we believe in is a Kurdistan of freedoms, pluralism, the rule of law, and respect for human dignity—not a Kurdistan of fear or thought restriction. Confident societies do not fear opinion; they do not confront speech with prosecution but with dialogue and respect for the law."

The Nada Alliance called on the relevant authorities in the Kurdistan Region to protect freedom of opinion and expression, to ensure that legal texts are not used to restrict fundamental rights and freedoms, and not to allow this case to become a precedent that could be used against human rights defenders in the future.

The Alliance concluded the statement with the question: "Do we want Kurdistan to be a homeland that embraces diversity and protects freedom of thought and expression, or a society where people fear to express their opinion or ask a question? The protection of public freedoms is not a defense of any particular individual but a defense of the future of society, the rule of law, and the democratic values we all strive for."