Mahmoud grew up under the regime of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and her earliest memories were of the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88. "From the day I was born, all the way to this moment, all I have witnessed is war, a never ending war in Iraq", she has said. She started reading feminist literature, which inspired her activism against patriarchal violence, in particular honour killings, female genital mutilation, and forced marriages.