Zohran Mamdani's 'Al-Qaeda Lawyer' Pick As Legal Advisor Sparks Row

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani ruffled feathers after he announced on Tuesday that he is appointing a controversial lawyer as the city's top attorney. Ramzi Kassem, who was tapped by Mamdani, defended al-Qaeda terrorist Ahmed al-Darbi in court.

Osama bin Laden's close ally, Ahmed al-Darbi, was found guilty of orchestrating the 2002 attack on a French oil tanker near Yemen's coastline.

In 2025, Kassem also represented anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, who was a figurehead of student protests at Columbia University against US ally Israel's war in Gaza, and the administration of Donald Trump labelled him a national security threat.

However, Kassem was also a senior policy advisor for immigration under former US President Joe Biden.

"Welcome to A New Era, Ramzi Kassem!" Mamdani wrote on X and praised him for providing legal defence to students detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Mamdani said, "I will turn to Ramzi for his remarkable experience and his commitment to defending those too often abandoned by our legal system," while announcing his appointment. He added, "City Hall will be stronger with him in it, and our work of building a more prosperous city for all will have a powerful advocate."

Kassem called the appointment a "call of duty" to serve the city he considers "home" and the "city that embraced" him.

"I grew up in war-torn countries in the Middle East, authoritarian regimes, and New York City was really my first stable and permanent home," Kassem stated. "This is an opportunity for me to repay that debt. I've been trying to repay that debt ever since I came to this country, ever since I immigrated."

As scrutiny intensifies, older articles and activist efforts by Kassem have come to light. Back in 1999, he penned a letter to the Columbia Spectator protesting a campus menu item called an "Israeli wrap", arguing that the label was insulting to Arabs and Muslims.

In a 2000 opinion piece for the same publication, Kassem contended that Israel lacked the authority to protect Jewish settlers in the West Bank city of Nablus, noting that the country "has no internationally recognised right to be there in the first place."

Kassem is the founder of a law clinic called Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility that aims to "support Muslim and all other client, communities, and movements in the New York City area and beyond that are targeted by local, state, or federal government agencies under the guise of national security and counterterrorism", according to its website.

Mamdani also announced the appointment of Steven Banks as corporation counsel and Helen Arteaga as deputy mayor for health and human services.