TARA Fares was voted one of Iraq’s biggest social media stars. A day later she was dead and her fans say ‘sympathy is not enough’.
AN Iraqi model and social media star became the latest female victim of a series of murders across the country this week.
Tara Fares, a former beauty queen with nearly three million followers on Instagram, was shot dead in her car in Baghdad yesterday in the city’s Kam Sara neighbourhood, The Sun report.
Her death comes just a day after she was voted one of Iraq’s most popular social media stars.
The Iraqi Ministry of Interior said they are investigating her tragic death.
Fares’ body arrived at Sheikh Zaid hospital at 5.45pm local time, where doctors she suffered three bullet wounds, Kurdistan 24 reported.
The 22-year-old was living in the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil but had been moving back and forth to Baghdad.
On her Instagram page, a photo was posted on Fares’ behalf in remembrance, with the translated caption: “We ask Allah to forgive her and to grant her mercy with her.”
Her fans took to social media to hail her strength and willingness to speak out in a country that can still have conservative attitudes towards women.
One fan wrote: “Tara’s death screams discrimination, lack of freedom and right.
“Sympathy is not enough.”
Another wrote: “Really shocked at the tragic murder of Iraqi model Tara Fares.
“I knew her through a friend.
“Tara began her journey when she competed in Miss Baghdad contest in 2014.”
The former 2015 beauty queen’s death comes just days after the killing of Suad al-ali, a human-rights activist from Iraq, who was also shot and killed in her car in the southern city of Basra.
Two women involved in the beauty industry have also been reportedly murdered in Iraq in recent months.
In August, Rafeef al-Yaseri, the owner of “Barbie” beauty centre, and Rasha al-Hassan, a beauty expert in Baghdad, both died in mysterious circumstances in their homes.
The beauticians’ deaths raised concerns over armed groups targeting beauty centre owners.
