Abdi Nur was my first Somali source on Ilhan Omar in August 2016. He contacted me after my post “Her back pages” had roiled Omar’s campaign for state legislative office. Wary of each other the first time around, we agreed to meet in a public place in downtown Minneapolis.
Two weeks ago we published “Abdi Nur’s plea for help.” In that post I reported: “The Ilhan Omar-inspired reign of terror continues in Minneapolis. Today my friend Abdi Osman Nur pleads for help as the news blackout continues. I am posting this [plea for help] at Abdi’s request on the understanding that the video [seeking his death] is ‘dangerous to my LIFE,’” as he explained in the Facebook post we published. (Abdi had sent me his Facebook post with the request that we get the word out and I had confirmed its accuracy with another Somali source.)
The Daily Mail’s Martin Gould now follows on my report with this: “EXCLUSIVE: Somali man who confirmed that Ilhan Omar married her brother says he is living in fear after a friend of the congresswoman posted a threatening YouTube video urging Somali-Americans to attack him.” It’s a good report, but it’s obviously not exclusive, let alone “EXCLUSIVE.” We had the heart of it two weeks ago.
Gould now adds that YouTube has removed the threatening video. Gould reports that YouTube took it down after the Daily Mail asked why it was still up. Gould states that it was removed a week ago (March 10).
Here are Gould’s bullet points:
• Wheelchair-bound Abdihakim Osman came forward last month to confirm to DailyMail.com that Ilhan Omar married her own brother
• A woman close to Omar has posted a YouTube video packed with degrading insults about Osman
• Malyun Ali pressed members of her Somali-American clan to go after him
• ‘Why are you not protecting us from this nasty man who is composed only of a head and a stomach,’ she said
• Osman has a ‘big bell, small udder, pillar-like head’, she added, and mocked his disability which was caused by contracting polio as a child in Somalia
• ‘Why don’t you stop this crippled dog?,’ she asked
• Osman has made a complaint to the Minneapolis police
Gould’s current story adds much in the way of confirmation and detail to the threats on Abdi’a life. It also goes back over the well trod ground of Omar’s fraudulent marriage to her brother along with photographs and videos. We’ve been on the story since 2016 and been joined by Preya Samsundar and David Steinberg along the way. I don’t think the Daily Mail has yet claimed that story as an EXCLUSIVE, it was the first to report with story with Abdi identified as a source. With Abdi’s help, I have met with four additional Somali sources who have confirmed the story in the past year. They have all asked for anonymity in the face of the reign of terror that Abdi defies.
By contrast with the Daily Mail, by the way, I think we have Abdi’s name right. It’s Abdihakim Osman Nur. When I first met him back in 2016 he showed me his Minnesota id. card. He has become a good friend since then.
I’m glad Abdi’s story has pierced the silence of the Minnesota media. The Daily Mail is the most widely read English-language news site in the world.
The Star Tribune is well aware of Abdi’s plight, yet the news has bypassed the Star Tribune. For some reason — you be the judge — it has not seen fit to report his story over the past two weeks. Its customary silence in re Omar obtains.
I will give the Star Tribune this much. If it ever gets around to the story, the Star Tribune won’t claim it as an EXCLUSIVE.
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Scott Johnson is a board member of Alpha News
Scott Johnson
Scott W. Johnson is a Minneapolis attorney who writes for Power Line and serves on the board of Alpha News.