Iraqi Security arrests TikTok influencer for "immoral content, Baath promotion"

Shafaq News/ Iraqi National Security forces in Nineveh arrested on Wednesday a TikTok influencer known as “Darman” for promoting Baath ideology.

“National Security in Mosul detained the TikToker Darman inside the “Mandi Al-Yemen” restaurant in the Al-Dhubbat neighborhood,” a police source told Shafaq News.

The influencer was arrested on charges of spreading “immoral content” on social media and promoting the banned Baath Party’s ideology, the source said.

“The authorities have video evidence of the accused, which was presented to the relevant judge, who ordered his detention for further investigation,” the source added.

Iraq’s parliament banned the Baath Party in July 2016, prohibiting its activities and any promotion of its ideologies, alongside other racist, terrorist, and extremist groups.

The Baath Party ruled Iraq for nearly four decades, with former President Saddam Hussein at its helm for much of that time until the US-led invasion in 2003. The regime committed numerous crimes labeled as genocide by Iraq’s specialized criminal court, leading to Hussein and senior officials being sentenced to death by hanging.