Ilhan Omar’s Ex-Husband, Long Rumored to Be Her Brother, Comes Out as Gay in Academic Paper
TMZ reports that Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, the British citizen who legally married Rep. Ilhan Omar in 2009, has identified himself as a gay man in a newly surfaced academic paper. The revelation adds another layer to years of allegations that the union was a sham arranged to secure Elmi immigration status while Omar remained involved with another man under Islamic law.
In the August paper titled “Out in the Field: Notes on Researching Queer Violence in Kenya,” Elmi, a doctoral researcher at the University of Bristol, wrote: “As a gay man of the East African diaspora, my fieldwork was never neutral.” He described the work as shaped by tension, risk, and the complexities of his own identity while studying violence against queer people in Kenya.
The 2009 marriage has drawn scrutiny for years. Omar and Elmi lived briefly in Minnesota before he left in 2012; they finalized their divorce in 2017. A source close to Omar’s earlier partner, Ahmed Hirsi, has claimed Hirsi described Elmi as Omar’s brother from London and said the legal marriage was done “to get him papers,” with Hirsi remaining only Islamically married to her. Friends of the family have also described Elmi at the time as an extremely feminine Somali man whose appearance and behavior stood out in the community.
Omar has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing or familial relation, telling one outlet earlier this month that she did not know if Elmi was related to her “to my knowledge.” Federal investigators are reportedly still examining potential immigration fraud tied to the marriage. An earlier probe around 2016 reportedly found evidence supporting the sham-marriage claims but stalled because potential criminal charges fell outside the statute of limitations. Civil denaturalization efforts face no such time bar.
Critics see Elmi’s public self-identification as further evidence that the marriage lacked any genuine spousal relationship and was instead a vehicle for immigration benefits.
Supporters of Omar dismiss the long-running sibling allegations as unproven. Either way, the paper has put the 2009 union back under a harsh spotlight at a moment when federal scrutiny of the congresswoman appears to be intensifying.- DTP