"A motorcycle driver with a silencer received a fatwa to immediately evacuate 13 famous women from social media from Iraq, or else their fate will be like their colleague Um Fahd," this is what a well-known and verified account posted on the platform X (formerly Twitter) in a shocking warning that signals a new wave of assassinations just days after the killing of the well-known social media figure known as "Um Fahd" in the Zayouna area of Baghdad.
Iraq has been engulfed in widespread controversy since last Friday, when "Um Fahd," whose real name is Ghafran Mahdi Sawadi, was found dead in her car in front of her house. Surveillance cameras captured her assassination by an armed man on a motorcycle, whose identity remains unknown and has not yet been apprehended.
Just two days ago, a verified account titled "Iraqi Minister," which is followed by over a quarter of a million users on X, tweeted: "A piece of advice from a good-doer to the fashionistas whose names are mentioned in this tweet: they must leave Iraq immediately... otherwise, their fate will be like that of their colleague Um Fahd." The verified account, identifying itself as "an Iraqi citizen with no government job," published the names of the 13 celebrities.
"Death can come at any moment." Notably, the name of Iraqi media figure and artist Hamsa Majid appears on that list. In response to the warnings, Majid asserts: "There is a media war against me, with fabricated videos and the use of artificial intelligence, and I am not afraid of all this, because I believe that death can come at any moment and in various ways."
Majid adds, "I am not a political figure for the people to hate me and wish for my death after Um Fahd; like Shahad Al-Shammari and Zina Al-Dulaimi, we are married and have children, and my daughter suffers greatly when she sees the extent of the attacks against her mother."
For its part, the Al-Nakheel Center for Rights and Press Freedoms condemns and denounces what it describes as "security chaos" that leads to such security breaches affecting personalities, whether influencers or content creators on social media or even journalistic figures.
Center President Zeinab Rabi expresses to Shafaq that "what is striking is the procrastination and lethargy in quickly revealing the circumstances of the crimes and physical eliminations that have become frequent, albeit intermittently, but have resurfaced prominently, whether in Baghdad or other provinces."
Rabi asserts that "the failure to disclose the circumstances of these crimes and attempts to cover up the killers and those responsible will exacerbate and increase the momentum of these criminal operations."
Concerning the containment of assassination operations, retired Major General Imad Alou, director of the Center for Accreditation for Security Studies, states that "assassination operations are not an Iraqi phenomenon but can occur in any country where weapons are available. However, targeting public figures, who usually have enemies, stirs public opinion and shines a light on these security breaches that require the quick intervention of security agencies to reveal the causes of these crimes."
Alou clarifies that "the failure to resolve these crimes quickly opens the door wide to various interpretations, some of which may be political, while others relate to the capabilities of the security forces and their speed of response."
He acknowledges that "it is difficult to confront assassination operations and provide protection for those threatened with targeting amidst the prevalence of weapons in the hands of groups enjoying political cover, organized crime syndicates, and others." He adds that "this issue requires new plans, legislation, and serious will to restrict and control weapons, in addition to tightening surveillance on areas from which criminals may launch their operations, and installing surveillance cameras; only then can we contain or reduce assassination operations."
