Iraqi authorities are investigating the killing of a social media influencer

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Iraqi authorities are investigating the killing of a social media influencer

2024-04-28 03:25 Last Updated At：03:31

BAGHDAD (AP) — 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," 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 that 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.

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 years. 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).

The acting parliamentary speaker, Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, said in a statement that the vote was “a necessary step to protect the value structure of society” and to “protect our children from calls for moral depravity and homosexuality.”

Rasha Younes, a senior researcher with the LGBT Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, said the law's passage “rubber-stamps Iraq’s appalling record of rights violations against LGBT people and is a serious blow to fundamental human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and association, privacy, equality, and nondiscrimination.”

A report released by the organization in 2022 accused armed groups in Iraq of abducting, raping, torturing, and killing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people with impunity and the Iraqi government of failing to hold perpetrators accountable.

Former Florida Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham remembered for his civility at memorial service

2024-05-12 05:38 Last Updated At：05:41

MIAMI LAKES, Fla. (AP) — Family and friends remembered former Florida Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham on Saturday as a politician who usually avoided rancor, enjoyed meeting regular Floridians and always behaved civilly, even behind closed doors.

About 200 people gathered for a memorial service at Miami Lakes United Church of Christ for the two-term governor and three-term senator, who died last month at 87. They were greeted with recorded music by fellow Floridian Jimmy Buffett, who died last year.

The program featured a photo of Graham smiling in a tie, his suit coat thrown over his shoulder, his pant legs rolled up as he stood calf deep in Everglades muck. A painting of Graham stood on an easel at the front of the chapel, his wife of 65 years, Adele, dabbing her eyes as she sat in the first pew with their family.

Robin Gibson, a lifelong friend who was Graham's general counsel as governor, said in his eulogy that Graham's friendly and civil public demeanor was not a charade — he behaved that way even in important and stressful meetings. Graham, a Harvard University-educated lawyer whose family built Miami Lakes, was governor from 1979 to 1987.

“There was no macho profanity. There was no agenda. There was no pettiness. There was no gossip. It was, ‘How do we get to make the best decision for the best reason?’ It was that simple,” Gibson said.

Two practices Graham was known for were his penchant for taking meticulous notes after many interactions and his “workdays,” where as both a governor and senator he would spend a shift at a different ordinary job each month.

Buddy Shorstein, a longtime friend who became his chief of staff, said Graham looked forward to each workday shift, eager to “learn what the average Floridian went through to make a living,” He did more than 400, including teacher, bellhop, construction worker and farm laborer.

After each, Graham would return to his office “refreshed and rejuvenated," Shorstein said. “The most important, consistent lesson he taught was good public policy makes good politics."

Shorstein bristled at how some political reporters considered Graham's note-taking to be “quirky,” which he adamantly said his former boss was not. He wondered if that public perception played a part in Graham being passed over by Democratic presidential nominees Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton and Al Gore as their vice-presidential pick.

Shorstein speculated that Gore would have won in 2000 if he had picked Graham because the race was decided by a 537-vote margin in Florida. That, he said, would have prevented the second Iraq war.

Former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, the eldest of Graham's four daughters, joked about how she was a college student in Washington, D.C., in 1987 when her father was elected to the Senate. He became her roommate so her mother could stay in Florida as the youngest daughter finished high school.

She said that one night she found her father in the kitchen “stirring something that looked inedible in a pot.” She asked him what it was.

“He replied proudly, ‘Pumpkin.’ I spotted the empty can and offered to get him something more substantive and tasty for dinner. But he said, Nope, nope. This is great. That sums up Dad, so easy going. The pumpkin met his needs. Plus, it did not cost him a penny. Dad was notoriously frugal,” she said, drawing laughs.

But then she turned serious, saying her father was always her inspiration and role model.

“There has never been a day I haven’t been proud to be Bob Graham’s daughter.”

Spencer reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.