Iraqi authorities on Saturday were investigating the killing of a well-known social media influencer, who was shot by an armed motorcyclist in front of her home in central Baghdad.
Ghufran Mahdi Sawadi, known as Um Fahad or “mother of Fahad,” was popular on the social media sites TikTok and Instagram, where she posted videos of herself dancing to music and was followed by tens of thousands of users.
An Iraqi security official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media, said the assailant opened fire as Sawadi parked her Cadillac in front of her house on Friday, killing her, then took her phone and fled the scene.
Iraqi TikTok celebrity Um Fahed is pictured at the Basra International Stadium during a match of the Arabian Gulf Cup football tournament on January 19, 2023.
The killing took place in Zayoona, the same neighborhood where a prominent Iraqi researcher and security expert Hisham al-Hashimi was gunned down in 2020.
Before the U.S. invasion of 2003, the neighborhood was home to military leaders and considered a prestigious area in Baghdad. In recent years, many militia leaders have taken up residence there.
Sawadi isn’t the first prominent social media figure to be gunned down in central Baghdad. Last year, Noor Alsaffar or “Noor BM,” a transgender person with a large social media following, was also fatally shot in the city.
A neighbor of Sawadi who identified himself only by his nickname, Abu Adam or “father of Adam,” said he came out to the street after hearing two shots fired and saw “the car’s door open and she was lying on the steering wheel.”
“The woman who was with her (in the car) escaped, and security forces came and sealed off the entire area, and they took the victim’s body and towed her car,” he said.
In Iraq, the role of social media influencers has broadened from promoting beauty products and clothing to government projects and programs. Official government invitations classify these influencers as key business figures at sports, security and cultural gatherings.
Videos featuring a prominent influencer during the 93rd anniversary on Thursday of the Iraqi air force’s founding sparked a backlash, with many criticizing the Ministry of Defense for allowing them to record and publish videos from sensitive military sites.
The ministry defended itself, saying that in the era of social media, like defense ministries worldwide, it uses influencers alongside traditional media to communicate with the public.
Last year, an Iraqi court sentenced Sawadi to six months in prison for posting several films and videos containing obscene statements and indecent public behavior on social media as part of a recent push by the Iraqi government to police morals.
Separately on Saturday, the Iraqi parliament passed an amendment to the country’s prostitution law — widely criticized by human rights groups — that would punish same-sex relations with a prison term ranging from 10 to 15 year A previous version of the law would have imposed the death penalty.
The law also bans any organization that promotes “sexual deviancy,” imposing a sentence of at least seven years and a fine of no less than 10 million dinars (about $7,600).

By: King Onunwor

US President Joe Biden delivered an election-year toast on Saturday night at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner as protesters outside criticised his support for Israel’s war against Hamas.
Mr Biden used the annual black-tie event to chide his Republican rival Donald Trump for immaturity, poke fun at his own advanced age and take on the Washington press corps.
“Yes, age is an issue. I’m a grown man, running against a 6-year-old,” Mr Biden joked.
Mr Biden, 81, later added of former President Trump, 77: “Age is the only thing we have in common. My vice president actually endorses me.”
Mr Trump reacted to the event by calling it “really bad” in a post, on his Truth Social platform. “Crooked Joe was an absolute disaster! Doesn’t get much worse than this!” he said.
Demonstrators holding banners outside the gathering at the Washington Hilton chanted about journalists’ deaths in Gaza. Hundreds of protesters encouraged journalists to boycott the annual event and shouted down administration officials as they entered.
Mr Biden avoided the large protests at the front of the hotel by arriving through a back entrance, where he was greeted by smaller groups of protesters calling for a ceasefire.
At the century-old event, often referred to as Washington’s “nerd prom,” hundreds of journalists, politicians and celebrities rubbed elbows in a massive banquet hall.
It often features friendly jabs from the president in a closing speech that takes aim at reporters and other guests in the audience.
“I’m sincerely not asking you to take sides. I’m asking you to rise up to the seriousness of the moment.
Move past the horse race numbers and the gotcha moments and the distractions, the sideshows that have come to dominate and sensationalize our politics, and focus on what’s actually at stake,” he said.
This year, the event was hosted by Saturday Night Live cast member Colin Jost.
Grassroots movement CODEPINK marched to the venue from a nearby park. “The United States media perpetuates anti-Palestinian narratives and ignores Israeli war crimes,” the group said on its website.
A growing movement against the war in Gaza has dogged the US president this year including at a $250-per-ticket March fundraiser at New York’s Radio City Music Hall that was disrupted by protesters.
Recently, that movement has expanded to college campuses in the US, signifying a growing revolt inside the Democratic base that Mr Biden needs to defeat Mr Trump, who is now the Republican frontrunner.
Kelly O’Donnell, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, declined to comment on security measures for the dinner.
“The safety and security of our protectees is the U.S. Secret Service’s top priority,” said U.S. Secret Service spokesperson Alexi Worley, who declined to comment further.
Israel’s six-month old war against Hamas in Gaza, in response to the Oct. 7 attack by the militant group in southern Israel, has killed more than 34,000 people, Palestinian health authorities say, and caused a humanitarian disaster for the enclave’s more than 2 million inhabitants.
The Hamas attack killed 1,200 people in Israel, and led to 253 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
The White House Correspondents Association was founded in 1914 and has held a dinner nearly every year since 1921 to celebrate the reporters who cover the presidency and raise money for scholarships.

Security was tight around a military base in south-western Cambodia yesterday, a day after a huge explosion there killed 20 soldiers, wounded others and damaged nearby houses.
Guards sought to keep media away from the site in Kompong Speu province.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said in a Facebook post on Saturday that he was “deeply shocked” when he received the news of the blast in the province’s Chbar Mon district. It was not immediately clear what caused it.
Images from the scene showed several badly damaged buildings on the base, at least one with its roof blown off, and soldiers receiving treatment in a hospital. Other photos showed nearby houses with holes in their roofs.
Four buildings three for storage and one work facility were destroyed and several military vehicles damaged, Col Youeng Sokhon, an army officer at the site, said.
He added that 25 villagers’ homes were damaged as well. Photos of the base showed the damaged structures in a large field, apparently with no civilian structures close by.
Another villager, who asked to be named only as Sophal, told AP he had heard a sharp sound, and when he saw smoke rising from the direction of the army base, he realised it was an explosion at the arms depot.
He then ran back to his house from the small shop where he sells food and drink to shelter inside with his wife and two children.
He said the military immediately closed the road to the base and “villagers were in a panic, seeking a safe place”.
He then moved his family to his parent’s home, farther away from the base.
When he returned to his own house hours later, he found it undamaged but other villagers’ houses had broken windows, doors and roofs, he said.
Cambodia, like many countries in the region, has been suffering from an extended heat wave, and the province where the blast took place registered a high of 39C on Saturday.
While high temperatures normally cannot detonate ammunition, they can degrade the stability of explosives over a period of time, with the risk that a single small explosion can set off a fire and a chain reaction.
Kiripost, an online English language news service, quoted villager Pheng Kimneang as saying a major explosion occurred at about 2.30pm, followed by smaller blasts for about another hour.
Hun Manet offered condolences to the soldiers’ families and promised the government would pay for their funerals and provide compensation both to those killed and those wounded.