Life sentence overturned
Baghdad appellate court orders retrial for Iraqi TikTok star
BAGHDAD – A judicial source says that an appellate court in Baghdad has overturned the life sentence of Iraqi TikTok star and dancer Hadeel Khalid Abdul Rasheed, popularly known as “Umm Al-Lool,” and has ordered a retrial.
In May, the Ministry of Interior reported the dismantling of a drug trafficking network. During the investigation, Umm Al-Lool was identified and charged with transporting drugs from Erbil to Baghdad for trafficking purposes. She was then sentenced to life imprisonment by the Rusafa Criminal Court in Baghdad.
Previously in April, Umm Al-Lool received a four-month prison sentence from Baghdad’s Karkh Misdemeanor Court for creating and distributing what was deemed “indecent content.” Subsequently, it was revealed that there was an existing arrest warrant for her on drug trafficking charges, leading to a life sentence under Article 28 of the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Law No. 50 of 2017. This sentence was reversed today.
Iraqi journalist Qusay Shafiq earlier reported that Umm Al-Lool’s lawyer stated she had confessed under duress and threats during the initial investigation but recanted in court. “I earn $4,000 a day in the nightclub. How could I transport drugs for one million Iraqi dinars ($763)? The cheapest [social media] promotion I do pays $1,000,” Umm Al-Lool stated.
The controversy around Umm Al-Lool’s sentencing occurs amid a spate of recent assassinations and mysterious deaths involving social media influencers in Iraq. In February, Simsim, a transgender social media figure, was murdered in Diwaniyah, southern Iraq. In late April, Umm Fahad, another social media influencer, was fatally shot outside her home in Baghdad.
In mid-May, a transgender social media personality died under suspicious circumstances in prison, where she was detained on prostitution charges.