On Tuesday, Socialist New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced the appointment of Ramzi Kassem as the city’s top attorney.
Kassem gained notoriety for defending al-Qaeda terrorist Ahmed al-Darbi when he served as lead counsel.
In 2014, al-Darbi pled guilty in connection with an al-Qaeda terrorist plot to bomb a French oil tanker near Yemen in 2002, leaving a civilian dead and several others injured. He was convicted in 2017 and ultimately transferred to Saudi Arabia in 2018.
Al-Darbi’s brother-in-law was Khalid al-Mihdhar, one of the five hijackers on American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon during the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The New York Post reports that in 2009, “Kassem founded a legal clinic at CUNY, which offers free legal representation to Muslims and other communities in New York City.”
The nonprofit, Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility (CLEAR) is largely funded by progressive philanthropist George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, which have given the clinic more than $3 million, public records show.
The Associated Press and The New York Times reported at the time that Kassem said, “While it may not make him whole, my hope is that repatriation at least marks the end of injustice for Ahmed… He had 16 long and painful years in captivity.”
Kassem is also part of the legal team representing radical Islamist Mahmoud Khalil.
Hellbound and Down 