YOU’RE NEXT!
Threat to ex-Miss Iraq after latest killing of ‘Westernised’ women
A ForMer Miss iraq was warned ‘You’re next’ after another beauty queen was killed in Baghdad in a suspected murder campaign against glamorous women.
shimaa Qasim was given the chilling threat after model and social media star Tara Fares, 22, was shot dead in her porsche at traffic lights.
A gunman blasted her three times in broad daylight before escaping on a motorbike ridden by an accomplice.
Her murder on september 27 followed the killing of a female activist in the southern city of Basra and the deaths of two well-known beauty experts.
Fears that they were deliberately targeted intensified when the killers warned former Miss iraq Miss Qasim that she was their next target.
prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered intelligence officers to investigate links between the killings and the threat against women in the public eye who live a Western lifestyle.
in a statement, he spoke of ‘evidence suggesting that there is a plan formulated by organised parties to undermine security under the pretext of fighting against depravity’.
Miss Qasim, a 23-year-old TV host who was crowned Miss iraq in 2015, said she received death threats just days after the
‘Being slaughtered like chickens’
murder of Miss Fares, who had millions of instagram followers. in an emotional video on her instagram feed, she described Miss Fares as a martyr and said successful women in iraq faced ‘being slaughtered like chickens’.
Miss Fares had received a torrent of online insults from islamic hardliners over her perceived lack of modesty.
The war-ravaged country is fighting to keep islamic state extremists out of major cities after they fled to the desert.
The violence has raised fears of a return to the kind of attacks on prominent figures that plagued the country at the height of its sectarian strife.
Human rights activist Hana Adwar said: ‘These harrowing crimes are worrying.
‘There are groups that want to terrify society through the killing of popular women and activists, and tell other women to abandon their work and stay at home.’
Miss Fares, who was half iraqi and half Lebanese, became famous in 2015 when she won a beauty pageant in Baghdad.
it made her a social media pinup, and glamorous photos of herself wearing make-up, jeans and revealing blouses that showed off her tattoos attracted 2.7million instagram fans.
Her YouTube channel, on which she shared make-up tips, drew more than 120,000 followers. she spoke openly of a brief marriage at 16 to an abusive husband who posted intimate photos of her on social media and took away their son, who is now three.
she also spoke out against religious, tribal and political leaders.
While many young iraqis shared her videos and pictures, others criticised her as provocative and un-islamic.
on August 17, Dr rafeef al-Yassiri, 32, a plastic surgeon labelled ‘iraq’s Barbie’ who posted images of herself on social media, died under mysterious circumstances.
Authorities initially said she was killed by a drug overdose, but have not offered an update in over a month, leading to rumours that she might have been poisoned.
A week later, on August 24, rasha al-Hassan, the owner of a well- known beauty centre in Baghdad, was found dead in her home. Authorities initially said she had a heart attack.
on september 25, two days before Tara Fares was killed, human rights activist suad al-Ali was shot dead in the southern city of Basra. A video posted online appeared to show an unidentified man opening fire as she got into a car near a supermarket.
one stylist who speaks under the assumed name of safaa nasser said an ‘organised network’ was behind the ‘premeditated’ actions, and revealed that she had changed her behaviour over safety fears.
Miss nasser, who organised fashion shows, added: ‘My daughters and i go out less and i stay away from the fashion world.
‘There are people who don’t want iraq to develop or for women to be visible. They want to take us backwards.’