Zhiar Ali

Zhiar Ali (Kurdish: ; Sorani alphabet: , , born September 2, 1999) is a former animal rights activist and a Kurdish advocate for LGBT rights. He presently resides in the Netherlands after having been based in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. In Iraqi Kurdistan, Ali is known for his contributions to LGBT rights, including founding Yeksani, a group that works to promote LGBT rights in the Kurdistan Region, of which he is executive director. He was previously a founding member of , Iraq's first pro-vegan animal rights group, and has worked as a freelance journalist.

Ali has been outspoken in his criticism of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for failing to appropriately address abuses of the LGBT population in the Kurdistan region, and has reported receiving threats over his activism.

LGBT Activism

Through his activism, Ali hopes to increase public knowledge of the struggles the local LGBT population faces, bring these issues to the attention of national and international actors to spur action, and seek to integrate the group into Kurdish society.

Asayish operation On April 1, 2021 news broke that the Kurdish security forces, known as Asayish, had set up checkpoints in Sulaymaniyah and arrested a number of individuals suspected of being gay.

According to Ali, the operation led to the arrest of 15 individuals, some of whom were underage, and security checkpoints were set up in places known to be popular among the LGBT community.

As a result of the discrimination and the operation, Ali reported that many LGBT people, including himself, felt excluded from Kurdish society.