AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Omar Fateh, Minnesota state senator and candidate for mayor of Minneapolis, has reported that his campaign office was vandalized with an Islamophobic threat. According to Fateh, the words “Somali Muslim, this warning is no joke” were scrawled on the office wall.
Fateh, the son of Somali immigrants, stated that he has faced a steady stream of racist and Islamophobic abuse in recent months, including violent threats delivered through emails and social media. In a statement, he declared, “Our campaign will not be stopped by hate speech or vandalism. We will not back down in the face of Islamophobia.”
The incident drew swift condemnation from current Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and members of the City Council. “Islamophobia and hatred against any religion or ethnicity have no place in Minneapolis,” Frey said.
Fateh also revealed that his name had appeared on a target list of a man accused in June of murdering two politicians and carrying out armed attacks on several others.
The Minnesota branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has urged police to investigate the vandalism as a hate crime, stressing that the threat represents not only an attack on Fateh but also on Minnesota’s Somali, Muslim, and immigrant communities.
**************
End/ 345
