Hussein Falih/AFP/Getty Images
Iraqi TikTok star Ghufran Sawadi, known as Umm Fahd, was shot dead in Baghdad, Iraq, on Friday evening.
Baghdad, Iraq
CNN
—
Iraqi social media star Ghufran Sawadi, known as Umm Fahd, was shot dead outside her home in Baghdad, Iraq's capital, on Friday evening, a Baghdad police source told CNN.
The attack occurred in the Zayouna area, east of Baghdad, and was captured on video using a surveillance camera and circulated on social media. The video shows a gunman riding a motorcycle shooting Al-Sawadi and killing him instantly. A Baghdad police source confirmed to CNN the authenticity of the video.
On Friday, the country’s Minister of the Interior announced “the formation of a specialized working team to find out the circumstances of the killing of a well-known woman on social media by unknown persons.”
Sawadi was very popular on TikTok, where she shared videos of herself dancing to pop music in skimpy outfits. In the past, the Iraqi judiciary considered these videos indecent. An Iraqi judicial statement said that Al-Sawadi was sentenced to six months in prison, on charges of “the crime of producing and publishing several films and videos containing obscene language and violating modesty and public morals.”
Other Iraqi social media figures have previously been targeted in deadly attacks.
More recently, another popular Iraqi TikTok personality, Nour Al-Saffar, known as Nour PM, was shot dead in Baghdad in September 2023. An Iraqi security source told CNN on time.
Al-Saffar, who has more than 370,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok, posted short videos about fashion, hair and makeup, and often danced to music.
After news of the shooting, many posted comments lamenting Al-Saffar's death, while others praised him, celebrating the man who fired the bullet.
Al-Saffar was killed in Iraq It has cracked down on LGBTQ expression It moved to criminalize it in law.
“Lifelong food lover. Avid beeraholic. Zombie fanatic. Passionate travel practitioner.”