A soccer referee invited to work in Toronto during the World Cup by Mayor Olivia Chow was reportedly denied entry by U.S. authorities due to alleged association with suspected members of terror organizations, according to U.S. news outlets.
Allegations of Terror Links
U.S. officials have not provided detailed information, but a social media account bearing the name of Omar Artan features repeated criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump and a remark that appears to refer to Jews as “blood suckers.” The Toronto Sun has not been able to confirm the accuracy of a machine translation of the post about Jews and Muslims, which was written in Somali. The Sun has also been unable to confirm that the account on the social media platform X belongs to Artan, but both that account and an associated Facebook account have many years’ worth of posts about refereeing soccer, often written in English, and what appear to be photos of Artan.
Chow's Statement
“Denying entry to Omar Artan, who has earned his place on the world stage through hard work and perseverance, is not right,” Chow reportedly told CP24 in a statement Tuesday. “Toronto believes in fairness, inclusion and giving talent the opportunity to shine. He would be welcome to referee here in our city … I will be writing to FIFA to let them know he is welcome to referee here.” Chow ignored a request for comment from the Sun. It is unclear if she knew about Artan’s alleged terror links at the time, or if she has reached out to officials with the federal government, or to FIFA, which has yet to comment to the Sun.
Government Response
In an emailed statement, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said Wednesday that it could not comment on “any individual situation” without consent, but it insisted safety and security during the World Cup is paramount. IRCC “applies its rules consistently and without exception, regardless of nationality, profile or role in the tournament,” the statement said. The City of Toronto referred all questions about Chow’s comments on Artan to the mayor’s office.
Chow’s remarks follow a motion she brought to Toronto city council in March to “oppose” deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the city, particularly during the World Cup. That came despite the U.S. Consulate writing council a letter insisting such a thing was never in the plans. The consulate said Wednesday that it has “no involvement” in the Artan matter and referred the Sun to a statement from a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson. That statement said Artan “was determined to be inadmissible due to vetting concerns and was denied entry,” but did not specify the nature of those concerns.
Artan's Background
Photos show Artan returned to the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Wednesday and was celebrated as a hero. On a verified Facebook account, Artan said he is “in a positive mood and … focused on the next challenges in my refereeing career.” While that OmarAbdulkadirArtan account features recent photos of Artan flying off to major soccer games, another Facebook account loaded with snaps of the referee, OmarAbdulkadirArtan1, has been largely unused since 2022, although it has posts from more than a decade before that.
Social Media Posts
Numerous posts from that account were shared with an account on X, ref_artan, that occasionally commented on politics in years past. Criticism of Trump was a theme. “You should impeach yourself before it’s too late Donald,” the account posted on Jan. 29, 2017, in response to a tweet from Trump about the New York Times. More alarming is a post from July 28, 2014, that tagged the BBC Somali account. That post was written in Somali, and according to a machine translation it was a comment about Jews cheating Muslims and Arabs and drinking blood. The accuracy of that translation could not be confirmed. While the Sun saved an image of that tweet on Wednesday morning, it was removed at some point later in the day. A note now in its place says the post “violated the X rules.”
On Dec. 7, 2017, in response to a tweet from former Florida governor Jeb Bush about moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, the ref_artan account replied: “You are (sic) f—— disgrace to the world.” Meanwhile, on Jan. 11, 2022, in response to a tweet from the U.S. State Department, the account wrote: “Hands off my country.” The account added that the U.S. “failed miserably in Ethiopia” and was “trying to make that up in Somalia, but (you) know little about us.” While the account is not verified and its accuracy cannot be confirmed, it features photos that appear to be of Artan from more than a decade ago, and years’ worth of links to Facebook posts, some from the account of the Somali Football Referees group.
Artan had reportedly been set to become the first referee from Somalia to work a World Cup game before he was turned away on June 6 upon arrival in Miami.
