A campaign of intimidation inside Minnesota’s tight-knit Somali community is using online death threats, physical assaultsS, and pressure campaigns to stop people from talking about Rep. Ilhan Omar’s past, according to a new report published on Tuesday.
Sources told the New York Post that people who have questioned Omar’s background, her 2009 marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, or her personal life have been assaulted in Minneapolis and Kenya, bombarded with daily death wishes, and warned they will be killed if they continue speaking out.
The paper states the protective network is not officially connected to Omar and it is unclear whether she is personally aware of the actions. Her office did not respond to a request for comment.
One man who spoke critically about Omar said he was jumped by roughly 15 people outside a Kenyan restaurant in Minneapolis, pepper-sprayed, thrown to the ground, and left with a concussion plus multiple cuts and bruises.
“I got jumped by 15 people and was pepper-sprayed,” the man, who was not named, told The Post.
“After that I don’t really remember what happened. All I know is I was thrown to the ground and had so many punches and kicks thrown at me.”
He told The Post he believes a popular Somali TikTok personality set followers on him by sharing his location after calling him a “fool” and threatening to “punch him in the face.”
