March 31,Kathmandu.Kurdistan is a city in Iraq. Although this city is known for its beautiful buildings and rich culture, the condition of women in this city is worse than worse. In the year 2023, 30 women were killed in honor killing in this city. In 2022, this figure was 23 and between 2017-19, 200 women were brutally murdered here in the name of honor.
Some were at fault for refusing forced marriages, while others wanted to study. Some dreamt of achieving something, while others were killed simply because they did not fit the mold of the fundamentalists.
We are telling you these figures because the story we are telling you today is also of an Iraqi influencer who was murdered just because she was famous. Her killers were not strangers but her own father, brother and relatives. She was shot dead while she was sleeping.
This is the story of TikTok star Fairuz Azad. Fairuz had faced death even before being killed by her family. A few months ago, she was raped and thrown from the 5th floor. Somehow she survived, but before she could forget this pain, she was murdered.
Fairuz Azad was born in 2003 in Irbil, Kurdistan region of Iraq. She also had an elder brother. Fairuz was young when her parents got divorced. The elder brother went with her father and Fairuz started living with her mother Naja Farhad. When she grew up, her mother married Shaheen Nahro of Irbil. She also had a son from this marriage.
After her initial education, Fairuz was very fond of taking pictures and making videos from an early age. She would often dress up and post her pictures on social media platforms. With time, her followers started increasing and she started getting a lot of recognition in the city as well.
As Fairuz was becoming popular, the tension in her house was increasing. Fairuz's videos went viral and reached her biological father and brother as well. The conservative father could not tolerate his daughter making videos without any veil. He contacted Fairuz's mother and clearly told her to ask her to delete her social media account.
However, Fairuz lived life on her own terms and did not let her father's displeasure come in the way of her work. In an Islamic country like Iraq, where veiling was strict and there were many restrictions on women, Fairuz's wearing modern clothes and making videos of herself singing and dancing became a topic of discussion.
However, despite these social barriers, Fairuz became famous in Iraq. She was counted among the most popular influencers in Iraq. Fairuz also started meeting fellow influencers in connection with content creation.