Eman Sami Maghdid: TikToker shot dead by brother for wearing crop top in shocking honor killing
Eman Sami Maghdid, 20, a popular Iraqi content creator and TikTok star, was shot dead in an alleged honor killing on Sunday, March 6. She was known simply as Maria to her internet supporters. The internet star was known for defying social norms, such as posing in midriff clothing and smoking.
Initially, when the case opened, the perpetrator of Maghdid's death was merely referred to as "unnamed assailants." However, reports now claim that Emam’s 17-year-old brother fired multiple bullets in her. Police in Kirkuk, Iraqi Kurdistan, detained the alleged killer who is accused of shooting his sister eight or nine times on a lane in Erbil on Sunday.
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Before her murder, Eman went by the names Mari and Maria and had 47,000 TikTok followers. The accused allegedly shot Maria numerous times on a road near the Erbil International Airport in Iraq's Kurdistan region during the weekend. After the heinous act, police arrested another person for providing shelter to the killer and hiding him from the police.
Although the cause of the purported crime has not been proven, the victim's brother is accused of "honor killing." Honor killings occur when a relative, particularly a girl or woman, is brutally murdered for bringing discredit to the family. Eman frequently shared her photographs and videos on social media that showed her breaking Iraqi Kurdish society's orthodox Islamic beliefs.
At least eleven other women have been killed this year in Iraq's Kurdistan area, including Doski Azad, a 23-year-old transgender woman who was also shot dead by her brother in another case of honor killing.
Eman posted on Facebook in August last year: ‘I believe that humans will always suffer at the hands of other humans.’
Eman's death occurred on International Women's Day and was highly condemned in Kurdistan. Gender-based violence, including sexual harassment, domestic violence, honor violence, underage marriages, and female genital mutilation, is rampant in the Kurdistan Region.