An old friend of the Democrat congresswoman Ilhan Omar has come forward to reveal a truth that scandalized the Somali community in Minneapolis. The 38-year-old congresswoman had reportedly told her friends years ago that her second husband was actually her sibling. A Somali community leader Abdihakim Osman is the first to reveal that Omar married her brother so that he could get the papers to stay in the US.
The man went on record with the Daily Mail to reveal the incident. Osman told the news media that Omar was married to her first husband when the congresswoman said that she wanted her brother to get the papers to stay in the country. But, nobody knew that this would mean that Omar would marry her brother.
No one was aware of the marriage till news media reports turned up with a certificate revealing her marriage to Ahmed Hirsi. The new allegations will lead to investigations against the Minnesota freshman representative.
A baseless and absurd rumour?
On hearing the news previously Omar has called it baseless and absurd and tagged the journalists Islamophobic. Omar tweeted calling the incident as online harassment where anti-Muslim sentiments were being smeared online.
But she has evidently been quiet about the same ever since. Omar's spokesman told Daily Mail that she does not want to comment about her personal life or family matters. He also said that she is focusing on her work which her 'constituents sent her to Washington for'.
Omar got married to her first husband in an elaborate ceremony in 2002 but by the late 2000s, her first husband Hirsi and Omar were always seen with a young man. The couple revealed that it was Omar's brother who was in London but came to stay with his sister. Unlike her wedding to Hirsi, Omar didn't apparently invite anyone for her second wedding to Elmi.
It was not until later that anyone came to know about the wedding. Osman told the news reporters that Hirsi was better known in the Somalian community than Omar, which led to the rumour about Hirsi's brother-in-law rather than Ilhan's brother.
The first to reveal about the marriage was Somalispot in 2016. According to reports, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating about the marriage and last month found several documents with a person that was related to the congresswoman.
Who is Ilhan Omar?
Ilhan Omar is often targeted by her Republican opponents. She is an immigrant, born in Mogadishu, came to New York in the year 1992 and has worked her way up the ladder professionally. She began her career by working with the University of Minnesota as a community nutrition educator.
Omar managed Andrew Johnson's campaign for Minneapolis City Council in the year 2013 and continued to serve Johnson after the elections as his Senior Policy Aide from 2013 to 2015. In 2016 she ran on the Democratic–Farmer–Labor (DFL) ticket for the Minnesota House of Representatives.
She has maintained a strong posture when it came to addressing several issues including the immigrant crisis. She has always been challenged even by Dalia al-Aqidi came forward as her opponent in the upcoming elections.
