Iraqi TikToker Shot Dead By Brother For Smoking, Wearing Crop Tops

Eman Sami Maghdid, a renowned Iraqi content producer and TikTok celebrity, was shot and killed in an apparent honor killing on Sunday, Mar. 6. To her online fans, she was known as Maria.

Maria's death, which occurred on International Women's Day, was strongly condemned in the Kurdistan Region.

Initially, when the case commenced, the culprit of Maghdid's death was just referred to as "unnamed assailants."

According to new accounts obtained by Metro, Emam's 17-year-old brother shot her many times.

Police in Kirkuk, Iraqi Kurdistan detained the suspect after allegedly shooting his sister eight or nine times on a roadway in Erbil on Sunday.

Eman had 47,000 TikTok followers and went by Mari and Maria before her brother allegedly killed her. Many of them condemned the incident upon learning the news of her death.

The accused reportedly shot Maria multiple times on a road near the Erbil International Airport in Iraq's Kurdistan area during the weekend.

Police arrested another person after the heinous act for providing shelter to the killer and hiding him from the cops.

The victim's brother is accused of "honor killing" although the cause of the alleged murder has not been established.

Honor killings occur when a family member, usually a girl or woman, is brutally slain for putting the family into disrepute.

Eman routinely posted photos and videos on social media that showed her defying conservative Islamic views in Iraqi Kurdish community.

At least eleven additional women have been killed in Iraq's Kurdistan region this year, including Doski Azad, a 23-year-old transgender woman who was also killed in an honor killing by her brother.

In August of last year, Eman said on a Facebook post obtained by local reports : "I believe that humans will always suffer at the hands of other humans."

Despite her coming from a conservative background, Mari's social media photographs and videos defied the community's narratives.

She posted photos of herself with cigarettes, films expressing herself aloud, and shots of herself wearing crop tops. All of which are considered dangerous and frowned upon by the majority of the Kurdish community.

Gender-based violence, including as sexual assault, domestic violence, honor violence, underage marriages, and female genital mutilation, is rampant in the Kurdistan Region.

Maria's murder comes after the deaths of at least ten other women in the Kurdistan Region in recent months.