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Socialist New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani introduced on Tuesday that he’s appointing controversial lawyer Ramzi Kassem, who defended al Qaeda terrorist Ahmed al-Darbi in courtroom, as the town’s prime lawyer.
Mamdani, who will take workplace on Jan. 1, introduced he was appointing Kassem as New York Metropolis’s chief counsel, the highest authorized position within the metropolis. He additionally shared that he’s appointing Steven Banks a self-proclaimed “social justice lawyer” as company counsel and Helen Arteaga as deputy mayor for well being and human providers.
Kassem’s report contains serving as a senior coverage advisor for immigration on the White Home Home Coverage Council beneath former President Joe Biden.
Kassem served as lead counsel in al-Darbi’s protection. In 2014, al-Darbi pled responsible earlier than a U.S. army fee to conspiracy in reference to an al Qaeda terrorist plot to bomb the French oil tanker MV Limburg off the coast of Yemen. One civilian was killed within the assault and several other others had been injured. He was convicted of the crime in 2017 and was transferred by the Trump administration in 2018 to Saudi Arabia’s custody.
FLASHBACK: INSIDE THE POLITICAL MOVEMENT THAT PUT A SOCIALIST IN CHARGE OF NEW YORK CITY
New York Metropolis Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (proper) introduced he was appointing lawyer Ramzi Kassem chief counsel on Tuesday. (Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg; Hiroko Masuike/POOL/AFP by way of Getty Photos)
“Whereas it could not make him complete, my hope is that repatriation not less than marks the tip of injustice for Ahmed,” Kassem mentioned on the time of the switch, including he had “16 lengthy and painful years in captivity.”
In 2025, Kassem represented anti-Israel activist and Columbia pupil Mahmoud Khalil who was arrested by ICE for his alleged position in main antisemitic demonstrations on campus. Khalil has since been launched, although his authorized case is ongoing.
Asserting the appointment, Mamdani mentioned, “I’ll flip to Ramzi for his exceptional expertise and his dedication to defending these too usually deserted by our authorized system.”
The mayor-elect mentioned that “Metropolis Corridor shall be stronger with him in it, and our work of constructing a extra affluent metropolis for all may have a robust advocate.”
AOC TO DELIVER OPENING REMARKS AT MAMDANI’S INAUGURATION, BERNIE SANDERS TO ADMINISTER OATH OF OFFICE
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani speaks to members of the media at Flushing Meadows Corona Park within the Queens borough of New York on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (Adam Grey/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photos)
“My honest hope is that New Yorkers who’ve lengthy felt on the margins of this metropolis, the homeless veteran straining to outlive, the affected person looking for the care that they want, an immigrant attempting to get by will really feel that they now have leaders of their nook who perceive their struggles and care to battle for them,” Mamdani went on, including, “That’s the metropolis I wish to construct. The prosperity I intend to ship and the management that has too lengthy been missing.”
Kassem thanked Mamdani for the appointment, saying he considers it a “name of responsibility to serve the town that I’ve referred to as residence, the town that embraced me.”
“I grew up in war-torn nations within the Center East, authoritarian regimes, and New York Metropolis was actually my first steady and everlasting residence,” mentioned Kassem. “This is a chance for me to repay that debt. I have been attempting to repay that debt ever since I got here to this nation, ever since I immigrated.”
20% OF NYC MAYOR-ELECT MAMDANI TRANSITION APPOINTEES HAVE ANTI-ZIONIST TIES: ADL
Professional-Hamas activist and former Columbia College graduate pupil Mahmoud Khalil poses for selfies after his launch from federal immigration detention in Jena, La., Friday, June 20, 2025. (Kat Ramirez for Fox Information Digital)
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Kassem is the founding father of the Creating Regulation Enforcement Accountability & Duty (CLEAR) regulation clinic, a challenge that, in accordance with its web site, has a mandate “to assist Muslim and all different shopper, communities, and actions within the New York Metropolis space and past which might be focused by native, state, or federal authorities companies beneath the guise of nationwide safety and counterterrorism.”
