Socialist New York mayor elected Zoran Mamdani He announced on Tuesday that he would appoint controversial lawyer Ramzi Kassem, who defended Al Qaeda terrorist Ahmed al-Darbi in court, as the city’s top lawyer.

Mamdani, who will take office on January 1, announced the appointment of Qasim. new york cityChief Counsel, the city’s top legal role. He also revealed that he will appoint Steven Banks as self-proclaimed “Social Justice Lawyers” serve as corporate counsel and Helen Arteaga serves as deputy mayor for health and human services.

Kasim’s resume includes serving as senior policy adviser on immigration on the White House Domestic Policy Council under former President Joe Biden.

Kasim served as lead counsel for Darby’s defense. In 2014, Darby admitted before a U.S. military commission to conspiring with Al Qaeda terrorist Plot to bomb French oil tanker MV Limburg off the coast of Yemen. One civilian was killed in the attack and several others were injured. He was convicted in 2017 and transferred to the custody of Saudi Arabia by the Trump administration in 2018.

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New York City Mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani (right) announced on Tuesday the appointment of attorney Ramzi Qasim as chief legal counsel. (Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg; Hiroko Masuale/Pol/Afp via Getty Images)

“While this may not lead to his recovery, I hope that deportation at least marks the end of injustice for Ahmed,” Qasim said. Say when transferring moneyadding that he had been “imprisoned for 16 long and painful years.”

In 2025, Qasim represented anti-Israel activist and Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil Arrested by ICE He allegedly played a role in leading anti-Semitic demonstrations on campus. Khalil has now been released, but his legal case is ongoing.

In announcing the appointment, Mamdani said, “I will turn to Ramsay because of his extraordinary experience and commitment to protecting those who are too often left behind by our legal system.”

“City Hall will be stronger with him here and we will have a strong advocate for our work to build a more prosperous city for all,” the mayor-elect said.

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

“It is my sincere hope that New Yorkers who have long been on the margins of this city, homeless veterans struggling to survive, sick people seeking the care they need, immigrants struggling to survive, will feel that they now have leaders in their corners who understand their struggles and care about fighting for them,” Mamdani continued, adding, “This is the city I want to build. The prosperity I want to achieve and the leadership that has been lacking for so long.”

Qasim thanked Mamdani for his appointment and said he saw it as a “responsibility to serve the city that I call home, the city that embraced me.”

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

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Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Hamas activist and former Columbia University graduate student, poses for a selfie after being released from federal immigration detention in Jena, Louisiana, Friday, June 20, 2025. (Kate Ramirez, Fox News Digital)

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Kasim is the founder of the Legal Clinic Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Accountability (CLEAR), a program whose mission, according to its website, is “to support Muslims and all other clients, communities, and movements targeted by New York City area and other local, state, or federal government agencies under the guise of national security and counterterrorism.”