A man on a motorbike has shot dead a social media influencer known as Om Fahad outside her Baghdad home, Iraqi security officials said.
The unidentified attacker shot Om Fahad in her car in the Zayouna district on Friday, a security official said, requesting anonymity because he was not cleared to speak to the media.
Another security source said the attacker appeared to have pretended to be making a food delivery.
Om Fahad became known for light-hearted TikTok videos of herself dancing to Iraqi music wearing tight-fitting clothes.
In February last year, a court sentenced her to six months in prison for sharing “videos containing indecent speech that undermines modesty and public morality”.
The government launched a campaign in 2023 to clean up social media content that it said breached Iraqi “morals and traditions”. An interior ministry committee was established to scour TikTok, YouTube and other platforms for clips it deemed offensive.
Several influencers had since been arrested, according to authorities.
Despite years of war and sectarian conflict since the 2003 US invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein, Iraq has returned to a semblance of normality. But civil liberties – for women, sexual minorities and other groups – remain constrained in the conservative society.
In 2018, the model and influencer Tara Fares was shot dead by men in Baghdad.
