Ahmed was “harassing any Somali voters who was [sic] not voting for” him according to Jabril’s report, which was obtained by the Globe. He was also allegedly acting as a translator for Somali voters. Eventually, election officials removed him from the voting location, Jibril said.
Jibril filed another police report on Sunday after Ahmed was allegedly warning people at a Dunkin’ Donuts and outside the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center to stay away from Jibril, claiming that she worked for the FBI (Jibril received a community leadership award from the FBI in 2019, but has never worked for the federal government).
On Sunday, the police officer handpicked Jibril seek a harassment prevention order.
Jibril, who ran for city council herself in 2021, said the harassment has been going on since January 2017, and has involved Ahmed spreading rumors about her sexuality, posting defamatory comments on Facebook (and later deleting them), and telling other members of the Somali community that she is “not a good Muslim.”
Jibril said she is not involved in the District 7 race.
“He’s going too far,” Jibril told the Globe in an interview. “I want my peace of mind. I don’t have time for harassment.”
Ahmed, a Roxbury track coach who ran a failed campaign for the state House in 2024, said he first heard of the police reports from a Globe reporter.
“That is her right [to file a police report], and she can exercise that,” he said. “It’s a he-said, she-said.”
Ahmed is one of eleven candidates vying for the District 7 seat on the Boston City Council to replace disgraced former councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson.
A campaign manager for another District 7 candidate, Said Abdikarim, made similar complaints to the Secretary of State, who oversees elections.
In an email Tuesday, consultant Anthony Morse wrote that Ahmed’s campaign failed to keep the proper distance from the Shelburne Community Center voting location. He also alleged that the translators hired by the city were related to Ahmed, that the Abdikarim campaign had “concerns about what [Ahmed’s campaign] are saying to voters at the polls,” and that Ahmed was “texting people filled in ballots on how to vote.”
Abdikarim told the Globe he stopped by the voting location twice, and both times observed law enforcement and Boston Election Commissioner Eneida Tavares telling the Said campaign to back away from voters and stand across the street from the polling location.
State law prohibits all campaign-related activities within 150 feet of a polling place or early voting site during voting hours.
A spokesperson for the Boston Elections Commission did not immediatly respond to requests for comment.
Abdikarim said “if you were there, you would have thought we are not in the US, the way this gentleman and these people were acting.”
“You cannot intimidate and bully your way to convince someone to vote for you,” he said. “That is not how democracy works.”
Samantha J. Gross can be reached at samantha.gross@globe.com. Follow her @samanthajgross.
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