[2] In 1996, during the height of the civil war, Adan's husband was killed near the family's home in southern Mogadishu.

[1] On November 20, 2019, local authorities confirmed her daughter Almaas Elman, who had also returned to Somalia as an aid worker, had been shot and killed in a car, near the Mogadishu airport.

[3] Adan is the executive director of the Elman Peace and Human Rights Centre, a Mogadishu-based NGO established in honour of her late husband.

[5] Through the center, she also co-founded Sister Somalia, the country's first program for assistance of victims of sexual violence.

[6] Fartuun Adan, together with her daughter Ilwad Elman was among the finalists nominated for the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity in 2017.