Iraqi TikTok star Om Fahad shot dead outside her home

Famous Iraqi TikTok star Om Fahad was shot dead outside her home late at night in the Zayouna area of eastern Baghdad. Om Fahad has hundreds of thousands of fans on social media.

The real name of Om Fahad is Gufran Sawadi. She had almost 500,000 fans on TikTok because she posted videos of herself dancing to pop music.

The monitoring cameras captured the fatal attack on Om Fahad on Friday night. They showed a lone attacker in dark clothes and a helmet-wearing person getting off a motorcycle. The attacker approached a black SUV car in which Om Fahad was sitting and shot her down.

Iraqi TikTok star Om Fahad shot dead outside Baghdad home https://t.co/qdKbONSqNP
— The Guardian (@guardian) April 27, 2024

The Interior Minister of Iraq said they have established an inquiry team to investigate the motives behind the death of Om Fahad. However, Om Fahad has been a “controversial figure” due to her online content.

A court passed a verdict against her in February 2023 that she would spend six months in prison for publishing indecent speech online. The court considered her content was damaging the public’s modesty and morality. Millions of people had seen her videos before the court’s verdict.

Moreover, Iraqi officials also initiated investigations against other online content creators besides Om Fahad to maintain national modesty in Iraq. The Iraqi court also sentenced five online content creators to up to two years of imprisonment at the time.

@omfaahad
بس فراك عينك عندي بلوة #ام_فهد
♬ الصوت الأصلي – ام فهد – OmFahad

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It all came after the Iraqi Interior Ministry established a committee in January 2023 to find vulgar and degrading content uploaded online by influencers like Om Fahad. They gave reason for this decision to protect morals and family traditions in Iraq.

Moreover, the Interior Ministry established a website where Iraqi users may report any such content for removal. Officials emphasized that the public had registered thousands of reports against vulgar online content. Hence, the public has appreciated the step of the Iraqi government to establish such a website.

Following the ministry’s crackdown, several online content creators faced pressure to issue an apology and remove part of their content. Regarding the death of famous Iraqi TikTok star Om Fahad, many people are speculating that she has been shot dead in the name of honor-killing owing to her social media content. However, the exact reason for her death is still unknown.