Iraqi TikTok star Om Fahad shot dead by gunman posing as delivery driver after influencer was jailed for ‘indecent’ vids

A POPULAR Iraqi TikTok star was shot dead in her car by a gunman posing as a delivery driver, Iraqi security officials said.

Om Fahad, whose real name is Ghufran Sawadi, was killed outside her home in Baghdad only months after she was jailed for “morality offences”.

AFP

Om Fahad has nearly half a million followers on TikTok[/caption]

A security source said the attacker, who arrived on a motorbike, appeared to have pretended to be making a food delivery when he gunned down the influencer.

Om Fahad, who has nearly half a million TikTok followers, had become known for light-hearted videos of herself dancing to Iraqi music wearing tight-fitting clothes.

The Iraqi government launched a campaign last year 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 have since been arrested, according to authorities.

Despite years of war and sectarian conflict after the US invasion in 2003 to overthrew 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, model and influencer Tara Fares was shot dead by gunmen in Baghdad.

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