In the town of Nimrud in northern Iraq, a young resident was murdered by another citizen over a comment made on Facebook, which the killer found insulting. This provoked him to go to the victim's home and kill him at his doorstep. According to Iraqi police sources, a report was received about a murder of a person in his late twenties by another resident of the same town using an automatic weapon. The assailant fired several shots at the victim, killing him instantly and wounding another person.
Media outlets quoted a local police official stating that initial investigations into the circumstances of the crime revealed that the victim, who worked as a pharmacist at a hospital in Mosul, had commented on the killer's results after the Ministry of Education announced the final preparatory stage results, indicating that his grades were poor.
The official added that the victim criticized the killer for achieving a score of 53% despite having to retake the final stage three times, suggesting that he should have received a higher score. This led the assailant to go to the victim's house with a Kalashnikov and open fire immediately upon the victim's exit. The police arrested the killer and placed him in jail.
The Iraqi Ministry of Interior had previously attributed some crimes and societal issues to social media and its misuse; however, this incident is considered unprecedented as it is not linked to armed militia activities or armed groups but rather involves two citizens due to a Facebook comment.
