BAGHDAD –
Iraqi authorities were investigating Saturday the murder of a well-known social media influencer, who was shot by an armed motorcyclist outside her home in central Baghdad.
Ghufran Mahdi Sawadi, known as “Um Fahad”, was popular on social media sites TikTok and Instagram, where she posted videos of herself dancing to music and was followed by tens of thousands of users.
An Iraqi security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the gunman opened fire when Sawadi parked his Cadillac in front of her home on Friday, killing her, and then took her phone. and she fled the scene.
The murder took place in Zayoona, the same neighborhood where a prominent Iraqi researcher and security expert, Hisham al-Hashimi, was shot dead in 2020. Before the 2003 US invasion, the neighborhood was home to military leaders and was considered a prestigious area of Baghdad. In recent years, many militia leaders have settled there.
Sawadi is not the first prominent social media figure to be shot dead in central Baghdad. Last year, Noor Alsaffar or “Noor BM”, a transgender person with a large following on social media, was also shot dead in the city.
A Sawadi neighbor who identified himself only by his nickname, Abu Adam or “Adam’s father,” said he went outside after hearing two gunshots and saw “the car door open and her lying on the steering wheel.”
“The woman who was with her (in the car) escaped, and security forces came and cordoned off the entire area, took the victim’s body and towed her car,” he said.
In Iraq, the role of social media influencers has expanded from promoting beauty products and clothing to government projects and programs. Official government invitations classify these influencers as key business figures at sports, cultural and security gatherings.
Videos featuring a prominent influencer during Thursday’s 93rd anniversary of the founding of the Iraqi air force sparked a backlash, with many criticizing the Defense Ministry for allowing them to record and post videos from sensitive military sites. The ministry defended itself by saying that in the age of social media, like defense ministries around the world, it uses influencers alongside traditional media to communicate with the public.
Last year, an Iraqi court sentenced Sawadi to six months in prison for posting several films and videos containing obscene statements and indecent public behavior on social media as part of a recent effort by the Iraqi government to control morale.
Separately, on Saturday, the Iraqi parliament approved an amendment to the country’s prostitution law – widely criticized by human rights groups – that would punish same-sex relations with a prison sentence of between 10 and 15 years. An earlier version of the law would have imposed the death penalty.
The law also prohibits any organization that promotes “sexual deviance,” imposing a sentence of at least seven years and a fine of no less than 10 million dinars (about $7,600).
Acting parliamentary speaker Mohsen Al-Mandalawi said in a statement that the vote was “a necessary step to protect the value structure of society” and to “protect our children from calls for moral depravity and homosexuality.” “.
Rasha Younes, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch’s LGBT Rights Program, said the law’s passage “seals the terrible record of rights violations against LGBT people in Iraq and is a serious blow to fundamental human rights, including right to freedom of expression”. and association, privacy, equality and non-discrimination”.
A report published by the organization in 2022 accused armed groups in Iraq of kidnapping, raping, torturing and killing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people with impunity and the Iraqi government of failing to hold perpetrators accountable.