Mamdani taps lawyer who defended al Qaeda terrorist as NYC chief counsel

Elected Socialist Mayor of New York Zogran Mamdani announced Tuesday that he is appointing controversial lawyer Ramzi Kasem, who defended al-Qaeda terrorist Ahmed al-Darbi in court, as the city's top prosecutor.

Mamdani, who will take office on January 1, announced that he was appointing Kasem New YorkGeneral Counsel, the highest legal position in the city. He also announced that he was appointing Stephen Banks self-proclaimed “Social Justice Attorney” as Corporation Counsel and Helen Arteaga as Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services.

Kasem's background includes serving as a senior adviser on immigration to the former president's White House Domestic Policy Council. Joe Biden.

Kassem acted as lead defense lawyer for al-Darbi. In 2014, al-Darbi pleaded guilty before a US military commission to conspiracy in connection with al-Qaeda terrorist plot to bomb the French oil tanker MV Limburg off the coast of Yemen. The attack left one civilian dead and several others injured. He was convicted of the crime in 2017 and was transferred to Saudi Arabian custody in 2018 by the Trump administration.

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“Although it may not cure him, I hope that repatriation will at least mark the end of injustice for Ahmed,” Qassem said during translationadding that he spent “16 long and painful years” in captivity.

In 2025, Kassem represented anti-Israel activist and Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested by ICE for his alleged role in leading anti-Semitic demonstrations on campus. Khalil has since been released, although his trial continues.

Announcing the appointment, Mamdani said: “I will turn to Ramsay for his remarkable experience and his commitment to protecting those too often abandoned by our legal system.”

The mayor-elect said that “with his participation, City Hall will be stronger and our work to build a more prosperous city for all will have a powerful advocate.”

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Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani speaks to the media at Corona Park in Flushing Meadows in Queens, New York, on Wednesday, November 5, 2025. (Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“It is my sincere hope that New Yorkers who have long felt on the outskirts of this city, the homeless veteran trying to survive, the patient seeking the help he needs, the immigrant trying to survive, will feel that they now have leaders on their side who understand their struggles and are willing to fight for them,” Mamdani continued, adding, “This is the city I want to build. The prosperity I intend to provide and the leadership that has been missing for too long.”

Kassem thanked Mamdani for the appointment, saying he considered it “a duty to serve the city that I called home, the city that accepted me.”

“I grew up in war-torn countries in the Middle East with authoritarian regimes, and New York was really my first stable and permanent home,” Kassem said. “This is an opportunity for me to pay off this debt. I’ve been trying to pay off this debt since I came to this country, since I immigrated.”

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Pro-Hamas activist and former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil poses for a selfie after his release from a federal immigration prison in Jena, Louisiana, Friday, June 20, 2025. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)

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Kassem is the founder of the Legal Clinic Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility (CLEAR), a project that, according to its website, has a mandate to “support Muslims and all other clients, communities and movements in the New York City area and beyond who are under attack by local, state or federal government agencies under the guise of national security and counterterrorism.”