Iraqi TikTokker shot dead outside home after Baghdad launched campaign against 'offensive' social media content

Ghufran Sawadi, known online as Om Fahad, had thousands of followers on TikTok, where she shared her daily routines, danced to pop music and posed in elegant and sometimes form-fitting attire.

Iraq's interior ministry confirmed that a "woman known on social networking sites" had been killed late Friday night by "unknown assailants," the BBC reported, and said a "specialized" team would investigate her death.

The driver, who was dressed in black and wearing a helmet, was pretending to make a food delivery in the eastern part of the capital city when he shot Sawadi in her SUV, according to reports.

Sawadi was sentenced to six months in prison last year by a court in the conservative country where women's civil liberties remain stifled, for "videos containing indecent speech that undermines modesty and public morality," according to reports.

It came after the government launched a campaign against social media content that it said breached "morals and traditions." A committee was established to scour TikTok, YouTube and other platforms for "offensive" clips.

The Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor wrote in a report last year that Sawadi's content "did not exceed the limits of their rights to freedom of opinion, expression, and publication," however.

Other prominent female influencers in the Middle Eastern country have also been arrested and targeted.

Noor Alsaffar, a 23-year-old TikToker, was shot dead in September 2023 and Tara Fares, a 22-year-old model and influencer, was murdered by gunmen in 2018, according to reports.

In January 2023, YouTube star Tiba al-Ali, 22, was strangled by her father in an alleged "honor killing."

A feud between Sawadi and fellow influencer Dalia Naeem, also known as "Iraqi Barbie," had recently escalated, according to some reports. Naeem was allegedly threatening to expose Sawadi's supposed "relationship" with senior Iraqi officials.

An apparent backup account of Sawadi's had more than 33,000 followers. One video from December in which Sawadi donned an elaborate gold necklace and chatted with a jeweler as music pumped in the background got over 1 million views.

Following her death, comments poured in saying, "God rest her soul" and "God have mercy on her."

The bio for the account translated from Arabic read, "I love you, my followers."