Om Fahad, a well-known Iraqi TikTok star, was shot dead in Baghdad on Friday evening, two security officials reported on Friday. The news was confirmed on Saturday by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, which referred to Om Fahad as “a woman known on social media networks.”
The young Iraqi had tens of thousands of followers on TikTok and Instagram. In her videos she often wore figure-hugging clothes or danced to music. Her messages caused a stir in predominantly conservative Iraq.
On Friday evening, the young woman was shot dead by an unknown person on a motorcycle. Om Fahad was in a car outside her home in central Baghdad at the time. A security officer who testified anonymously told the French news agency AFP that the perpetrator allegedly posed as a meal delivery person.
Last year, Fahad was sentenced by a court to six months in prison. The reason: ‘the publication of several videos containing indecent statements that offend public decency and morals’.
The Iraqi government had previously set up a committee to monitor social media for content that is not ‘modest’. Internet users are also urged to report this type of content on a platform set up for this purpose. In the aftermath, several internet celebrities were sentenced to prison or had to apologize for, among other things, humorous and satirical messages.
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Tags: Wellknown Iraqi TikTok star shot dead Baghdad perpetrator allegedly posed delivery person
