Iraqi Tiktoker is shot dead in a car in Baghdad; police describe murderer’s action

Photo: Reproduction/TikTok

Tiktoker Om Fahad, known for publishing videos dancing to Iraqi music, was shot dead last Friday (26). According to a local security official, the unidentified assailant shot Om Fahad while she was in her vehicle in Zayouna district.

According to information from The Guardian, an anonymous and unauthorized source from the country’s security said that the criminal pretended to be delivering food when he committed the murder. In addition to her, another woman was reportedly injured in the attack, local media confirmed.

After the repercussions, a specialized work team was created to investigate the circumstances surrounding the influencer’s death.

Fahad, whose real name is Ghufran Sawadi, had more than 450,000 followers on social media. She became known after starting to share happy TikTok videos, in which she danced to Iraqi songs while wearing tight clothes, which goes against the morals of the country, which is mostly conservative and patriarchal.

@omfaahad بس فراك عينك عندي بلوة

In February last year, a court sentenced her to six months in prison for sharing “videos containing indecent speech that undermine modesty and public morality”. At the time, the government began a campaign to exterminate social media content that authorities said violated “Iraqi morals and traditions,” with Fahad being one of its targets.

The Ministry of the Interior even created a committee to search TikTok, YouTube and other platforms in order to identify videos that they considered offensive. From then on, several influencers became targets of the government and ended up behind bars, while others were forced to publicly apologize on their platforms.

This is not the first time such a murder has happened. In 2018, model and influencer Tara Fares was shot dead in Baghdad. She was also in her car when the attack took place.