Iraqi TikTok star killed outside her home ‘by gunman posing as delivery driver’
The influencer spent time in jail last year for 'speech that undermines modesty and public morality'.
A well-known Iraqi TikTok star was shot dead outside her Bagdad home by a gunman on a motorbike, according to local sources.
Om Fahad was in her car when she was killed by an attacker thought to be posing as a food delivery person, security officials in Iraq said.
The interior ministry confirmed in a statement that a ‘woman known on social networking sites’ had been killed by ‘unknown assailants’, the BBC reports.
Om, whose real name was Ghufran Sawadi, had become known for her light-hearted TikTok videos in which she danced in form-hugging clothes.
She had amassed tens of thousands of followers.
In February 2023, she was jailed for six months for sharing ‘videos containing indecent speech that undermines modesty and public morality’.
The Iraqi government launched a campaign last year to clean up social media content that it said breached Iraqi ‘morals and traditions’.
An interior ministry committee was set up to find content on platforms such as TikTok that it deemed offensive.
Several influencers have since been arrested, according to authorities.
In response the independent Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said: ‘Iraqi authorities’ detention and conviction of several social media content creators on vague charges that do not justify the restriction of natural rights is extremely concerning.’
Iraq has returned to a semblance of normality after years of war and sectarian conflict following the 2003 US invasion to overthrew Saddam Hussein.
However, civil liberties for women, sexual minorities and other groups remain constrained in the conservative society.
According to the BBC, a feud between Om and fellow influencer Dalia Naeem had recently escalated.
Naeem – who, due to her many plastic surgery procedures, is known as ‘Iraqi Barbie’ – had threatened to expose Om’s alleged relationship with senior Iraqi officials, it said.
In 2018, model and influencer Tara Fares was shot dead by gunmen on a motorbike in Baghdad while she was in her car.
Footage later emerged of the attack.
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