Democratic New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani appeared arm-in-arm Friday with a Muslim cleric linked to the architects of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and other terror plots.
Prosecutors had named Imam Siraj Wahhaj — who previously called for an Islamic state in America — among dozens “who may be alleged to be co-conspirators” in the trial of several men convicted of planning a terrorism campaign which included the 1993 World Trade Center attack. The attack killed six people and injured more than 1,000 others.
Despite Wahhaj’s history, the socialist Muslim mayoral candidate visited his Brooklyn-based mosque and described Wahhaj as a “pillar” of the community.
”Today at Masjid At-Taqwa, I had the pleasure of meeting with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, one of the nation’s foremost Muslim leaders and a pillar of the Bed-Stuy community for nearly half a century,” Mamdani wrote Friday on X.
Three children of Wahhaj were sentenced to life in prison in 2024 on charges including terrorism, kidnapping, and conspiracy to murder for organizing a jihadist training compound in New Mexico authorities say was used to plot attacks against the U.S. government. Wahhaj told reporters he helped police find the training compound by reporting its location to the authorities.
Wahhaj served as a character witness in 1995 for Omar Abdel-Rahman, a cleric who later served a life sentence, according to media reports and court documents. Prosecutors said Abdel-Rahman helped orchestrate plans to murder hundreds of Americans, attack a U.S. military installation, and assassinate Egypt’s president at the time.