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Iraq
Kirkuk police arrested two people (in yellow) in relation to death of Maria. Date: March 9, 2022. Photo: handout
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The suspected murderer of Kurdish woman who was killed in Erbil earlier this week was arrested in Kirkuk on Wednesday, chief of Kirkuk police told Rudaw.
Eman Sami Maghdid, also known as Maria, was shot dead in the Kurdistan Region’s capital city of Erbil late Sunday.
Kurdish security forces failed to arrest the murderer.
Kawa Gharib, commander of Kirkuk police, told Rudaw on Wednesday that the city’s anti-crime police teams were able to arrest the murderer of Maria, only providing the initials of his full name.
“Another person has also been arrested for sheltering the murderer at his house,” the commander added.
Hogir Aziz, spokesperson for Erbil police, told Rudaw later in the day that the arrested man is Maria’s brother. He also said that the operation was carried out in coordination with Kurdish security forces.
The death of Maria, which coincided with the International Women’s Day, was widely criticised in the Kurdistan Region.
Maria was a well-known TikToker with a platform of over 47,000 followers before her death, many of whom have expressed outrage at the news of her death.
Coming from a conservative society, Mari’s social media photos and videos rebelled against the community’s narratives. She published photos with cigarettes in her hands, videos where she expressed herself out loud, and images wearing crop tops - actions seen as lethal and looked down upon by the majority of the Kurdish community.
"I believe that humans will always suffer at the hands of other humans," Mari wrote on her Facebook in August of 2021, not knowing that she would tragically meet her end a year later.
The Kurdistan Region suffers from high rates of gender-based violence, including sexual violence, domestic violence, honor violence, child marriages, and female genital mutilation.
Maria's murder also follows the death of at least ten other women who were killed in different parts of the Kurdistan Region in the last few months.
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