SCOOP: Historian Researching Ilhan Omar’s Colonel Father Warned To Avoid Minneapolis Over Clan Violence

Historian Mohamed Haji Ingiriis says organisers cancelled his Minneapolis award event and travel after warning him that critics of Ilhan Omar might not be safe there because of clan violence. The event’s president disputes that account, saying he had never heard threats against Omar’s critics; the cancellation’s stated reason remains unclear.

Ingiriis’s research concerns Omar’s father, Nur Said Elmi, whom he says held senior military roles under Somali dictator Siad Barre, including during the regime’s final years before its collapse in 1991. Ingiriis says there is no evidence Elmi took part in atrocities, but argues his position warrants scrutiny; Elmi died in 2020. The article also reports that an American government investigation into Omar began with a Homeland Security Investigations unit focused on human rights violations and war crimes.