A popular Iraqi TikTok personality, Om Fahad, was shot dead at her home in Baghdad on Friday evening. The 29-year-old influencer, whose real name is Gufran Sawadi, was sentenced last year to six months in prison for sharing “videos with indecent statements that undermine modesty and public morality.” She made herself popular with her followers by posting light-hearted videos of herself dancing to pop music.
Om Fahad, who has half a million followers on TikTok, was shot in her car by a motorcyclist who disguised himself as a food delivery person. The perpetrator was still on the run on Sunday evening.
In recent years, several Iraqis prominent on social media, particularly women and people from the LGBTI community, have been targeted with threats and deadly violence.
The Iraqi authorities are trying to further criminalize the online expression of various forms of sexuality. This legal repression seems to be mainly motivated by the growing visibility of young Iraqi women in particular who are protesting online against the still dominant traditional ideas in the field of sexuality and gender norms.
For example, in January 2023, the Iraqi Ministry of Interior established a committee to track “obscene and degrading” online content from popular Iraqi influencers.
Among other things, a hotline was intended to ensure that “morals and family traditions” in Iraqi society are protected. A month after Fahad’s conviction, five other Iraqi online personalities were sentenced to prison terms of up to two years last year.
The Iraqi Ministry of Interior has now launched an investigation into the circumstances of Fahad’s death. Her murder seems to fit within a pattern of targeted violence against Iraqi influencers who push the boundaries of the prevailing conservatism around sexual morality.
In 2018, Instagram model Tara Fares, with three million followers, was shot dead in the Iraqi capital, just like Fahad. Last year, 23-year-old Noor Alsaffar, who identified himself as a man and appeared in short Instagram and TikTok videos featuring dresses, hair and makeup styles, was also shot dead. In February this year, a trans rights advocate known on social media as “Simsim” was stabbed to death in the center of the city of Diwaniyah, just south of Baghdad.
To share
Email the editor
Tags: Popular Iraqi influencer murdered home
