Ilhan Omar is alleged to have concealed ties to two siblings living in London, an arrangement that critics say may have helped distance her from Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, whom she married in 2009.
Several sources told The Post that Mohamed Nur Said Elmi, a political activist involved in the Puntland cause in Somalia, and Leila Nur Said Elmi, 53, are siblings of Omar and reside in London.
Ahmed Elmi, 41, was married to Omar for eight years. In a recent academic paper, he described himself as “a gay man.” Sources also believe he lived with Leila during his childhood.
Omar, 44, came to the United States as a Somali refugee in 1995, while another branch of the family reportedly traveled to London through Ukraine.
“They are all one family,” a friend of the Omar family told The Post. “The siblings have the same mother and father, and within the Somali community they acknowledge one another as brothers and sisters.
“But they keep it quiet from the rest of the world because Ilhan is now in politics. They do not want people to connect her to Ahmed [Elmi].”
The family spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya after fleeing Somalia when civil war erupted.
The family, which originally used the surname Elmi, sought refuge overseas as soon as circumstances allowed, according to a family friend in Minnesota.
“That is what people in the community did when they were desperate,” the source told The Post. “There was clearly tremendous danger, and once people realized they could reach another country, they helped bring as many relatives as possible to safety.”
Omar, her sister Sahra and their late father, Nur Omar Mohamed, initially settled in Arlington, Virginia, before relocating to Minnesota.
Omar’s alleged brother Mohamed now appears deeply involved in Puntland politics and frequently travels to the region from London, according to his social media posts.
He and Leila have ties to Mohamed Said Hersi “Morgan,” the military commander accused of leading a state-backed massacre of members of the Isaaq clan in 1988 under Somali dictator Siad Barre.
A photograph obtained by The Post shows Mohamed and Leila smiling alongside the warlord in January 2024. Mohamed later honored Morgan on social media after his death, writing that their families shared a longstanding friendship and that the general had been close to their father.
Known as the “Butcher of Hargeisa,” General Morgan was accused of overseeing a campaign in which cities were devastated by aerial bombardment, wells were poisoned and as many as 200,000 civilians were killed—events many scholars describe as genocide.
Omar’s late father also reportedly used the name Nur Said Elmi and was a prominent military commander in the Somali dictatorship, a regime that drove millions of people from the country.
Leila, Mohamed and Sahra are connected on Facebook, where they frequently “like” and react to one another’s photos. All are also linked to the alleged father, Nur, who used the name Nur Said. Omar has previously said that Nur Said was merely a nickname for her father, though Somali sources dispute that account.
Omar, Sahra, Leila, Mohamed and Elmi did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
Omar’s alleged sister Leila married a Somali man 11 years older than her in Camden, London, in 1997. A British marriage certificate obtained by The Post identifies her father as Nur Said Elmi, a Somali military officer.
Multiple sources have said the man named on the British legal document was Omar’s father and that the siblings in the United States and United Kingdom also shared the same mother, Fadhuma Abukar Haji Hussein. Omar has said her mother died when she was about two years old.
“We are a small community and everybody talks; nothing is hidden,” a friend of the Omar family told The Post.
“Leila and Mohamed went to London with another relative who had room for them. Nur used to speak proudly about his children in London. It was not much of a secret here.”
The family friend said this was why Leila helped raise Ahmed while he lived with her in London. The source claimed that a series of disagreements later led to Ahmed moving to Minnesota, where he had a “larger family support network.”
“Leila was looking after Ahmed before they decided to send him to America to be with his father because he was getting involved with bad influences and living a lifestyle our religion did not approve of,” the source told The Post. “She could not control him.”
The two branches of the family continued to see one another. According to the source, Leila visited her alleged father in the United States in 2016, four years before his death from COVID-related complications.
“I know the family very well,” he said. “I remember seeing Leila when she came here. She looks almost identical to Sahra.”
When Omar said she had been racially abused by a taxi driver in Washington, DC, in December 2016, she disclosed that her sister had been with her during the incident.
Many people assumed she was referring to Sahra. However, a family friend appeared to identify the woman as Leila in a Facebook post describing how wonderful it had been to meet her that night.
“On Wednesday night I had an opportunity to have dinner with State Representative-Elect Ilhan Omar and her lovely sis Leila Elmi,” the post said, apparently in defense of the congresswoman. The post has been attributed to Hirsi, although other online claims identify someone else as its author.
Omar also reportedly referred to her father as Nur Said in a June 2013 social media post that she later deleted.
After his death, people paid tribute online to “Nur Said Elmi” and offered condolences to his “children,” including Omar, Sahra, Leila and Mohamed.
These claims form part of a growing body of allegations that has fueled speculation that Omar’s 2009 marriage to Elmi was arranged to help him obtain legal immigration status.
While living in Minnesota, Elmi stayed with Omar and Hirsi, with whom she has three children, including a daughter born in 2012 while Omar was still married to Elmi.
After spending time in South Africa, Elmi returned to the United Kingdom, where he now works at the University of Bristol.
