Mamdani defends meeting with controversial Brooklyn Imam

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — DEMOCRATIC MAYORAL NOMINEE Zohran Mamdani on Sunday spoke after backlash over his meeting with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, a Bed-Stuy cleric once linked to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, reports the New York Post.

Mamdani, who is Muslim, described the controversy as religious discrimination, telling reporters, “The same Imam met with Mayor Bloomberg, met with Mayor De Blasio, campaigned alongside Eric Adams, and the only time it became an issue of national attention was when I met with him because of the fact of my faith and because I’m on the precipice of winning this election.”

Wahhaj, who has denied terror links, previously made homophobic remarks and defended individuals convicted in the 1993 bombing, some of whom attended his mosque. His son was sentenced to life in prison in 2018 for running a terror training compound in New Mexico. According to Reuters, however, it was Wahhaj himself who tipped off the police to his son’s whereabouts.

Rival candidates Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa called Mamdani’s association “disqualifying,” while Mamdani accused Cuomo of smearing him rather than addressing his own record.

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