Who Was Umm Fahad? Iraqi TikTok Star Ghufran Sawadi Shot Dead Outside Baghdad Home

Ghufran Sawadi, widely recognized as Umm Fahad, a prominent figure on Iraqi social media platforms, was fatally shot outside her residence in Baghdad, Iraq's capital, on Friday night, as confirmed by a Baghdad police source to CNN.

The event took place in the eastern Baghdad neighborhood of Zayouna and was captured on video by a security system. The footage was then shared on social media. The video shows Sawadi being instantly shot and killed by a motorcyclist assailant. An anonymous Baghdad police source confirmed the video's veracity to CNN.

The main topics of Alsaffar's material were cosmetics, hair, and fashion, with sporadic dance routines set to music.

The minister of interior of Iraq declared the creation of a specialized task force to look into the circumstances surrounding Sawadi's murder, which was carried out by those who are still at large. This sad incident is the latest in a string of murderous assaults on prominent Iraqi social media users. Notably, an Iraqi security source told CNN that Noor Alsaffar, popularly known as Noor BM, a well-known personality with over 370,000 followers on TikTok and Instagram, was shot and killed in Baghdad in September 2023. Social media users' responses to the attacks have been mixed, ranging from condolences for the victims to commendation of the offenders.

Sawadi rose to fame on TikTok, where she regularly uploaded videos of herself dancing to hit songs while wearing skimpy clothing. She was previously prosecuted by the Iraqi judiciary and sentenced to six months in prison for "the crime of producing and publishing several films and videos containing obscene and indecent language, violating public decency and morals," according to a statement from the official Iraqi judiciary.

The main topics of Alsaffar's material were cosmetics, hair, and fashion, with sporadic dance routines set to music.

The murders of Sawadi and Alsaffar highlight a worrying development in Iraq's attempts to suppress LGBTQ expression through laws intended to make it illegal.