US Republican candidate calls for Ilhan Omar to be hanged

A US Republican running for congress has called for Congresswoman Ilhan Omar to be hanged, according to the American newspaper the Tampa Bay Times.

In a 26 November fundraising email sent by George Buck he accuses Omar of treason on the grounds that she is secretly working for Qatar: “We should hang those traitors where they stand.”

Buck later defended his comments: “Anyone who commits treason against the United States should be tried to the full extent of the law.”

In the original email he referred to a story published by the Israeli Jerusalem Post which accuses Omar of being a Qatar asset guilty of passing on information to Iran.

The email also referred to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who has called for greater police protection for Omar, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib, members of the “Squad” who are also subject to frequent attacks.

In July Trump told them to go back to the “totally crime-infested places from which they came,” despite the fact that, with the exception of Omar, they were born and raised in the US.

READ: Man pleads guilty to threatening to kill US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar

A Republican candidate hoping to challenge Omar, Danielle Stella, wrote on Twitter in November: “If it is proven @IlhanMN passed sensitive info to Iran, she should be tried for #treason and hanged,” accompanied by a stick figure hanging from the gallows.

Her account has since been permanently suspended and in response she said: “My suspension for advocating for the enforcement of federal code proves Twitter will always side with and fight to protect terrorists, traitors, paedophiles and rapists.”

Omar, a refugee from Somalia who moved to the US from a refugee camp in Kenya, has been frequently attacked with death threats.

In October a Republican senator posted a photo allegedly showing Omar with a weapon at an Al-Qaeda training camp. It was later revealed the photo was taken in 1978, four years before Omar was born.

A Trump supporter from New York was arrested in April after calling Omar’s office threatening to put “a bullet in her skull”.

The US president himself has said that Minneapolis – where Omar has been elected to congress – has accepted too many Somali immigrants.

“Congresswoman Omar is an American-hating socialist. How do you have such a person representing you in Minnesota?” the president asked. “She is a disgrace to our country.”

Omar has said that Trump’s lies are putting her life at risk.