Apr 27 – Iraqi social media influencer Om Fahad has been shot dead outside her home in Baghdad, according to local media reports.
The attack happened in the capital’s eastern Zayne neighbourhood on Friday.
Iraq’s interior ministry confirmed in a statement that a “woman known on social networking sites” had been killed by “unknown assailants”.
It added that a “specialised work team” had been set up to investigate the circumstances of her death.
Fahad, whose real name is Ghufran Sawadi, was reportedly shot in her car by a lone person with a gun riding a motorbike.
An Iraqi security source told the AFP news agency that the attacker appeared to have been pretending to be making a food delivery.
The US-owned Al Hurra news agency, meanwhile, reported that another woman was injured in the attack.
Fahad became well-known on TikTok for sharing videos of herself dancing to pop music in form-hugging clothes – earning her tens of thousands of followers.
She was sentenced to six months in prison last year for sharing videos that the court ruled undermined “modesty and public morality”.
This followed the launch of a government committee to monitor social media sites for content it deemed offensive and punish those responsible for it.
The independent Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said at the time: “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.”
More recently, a feud between Fahad and fellow influencer Dalia Naeem has escalated.
Naeem – who is known as “Iraqi Barbie” due to her many plastic surgery procedures – had been threatening to expose Fahad’s alleged relationship with senior Iraqi officials, media reports say.
