Zohran Mamdani, Democratic Candidate for Mayor of New York City, holds a press conference criticizing President Donald Trump freezing $18 billion to New York City infrastructure projects at Hudson Yards. Photo by Derek French / © SOPA Images / Sipa USA
(New York, NY) – New York City mayoral contender Zohran Mamdani has depicted himself throughout his career as a staunch advocate of women’s rights.
But a 77 WABC review of Mamdani’s writings has revealed that when he could have personally intervened as a private citizen and a man to stop a series of brutal rapes and sexual assaults, he declined to do so because of “woke,” political correctness concerns.
Mamdani, who is now 33, was a student in Cairo in 2013, when protests broke out against Egypt’s then-Islamist Muslim Brotherhood regime.
Large numbers of women were involved in the protest, and according to Human Rights Watch, up to 91 women were raped or sexually assaulted in just four days.
The wave of attacks was documented at the time by major news media, including PBS Newshour and Euronews.
In a piece for his college newspaper about his time studying in Cairo, Mamdani wrote that at those protests, women “had to contend with the very real threat of sexual harassment and assault, especially at night.”
He namechecked two groups of civilian volunteers engaged in blocking, stopping, and reporting rapes, and said he “thought of volunteering.”
However, Mamdani declined to intervene to stop rapes and sexual assaults not because of concerns about his own personal safety, or legalities, but rather because he concluded that “that the last thing Egyptians needed was a well-meaning foreigner’s assistance.”
The revelations could raise further questions about whether Mamdani is the right candidate to take on violent crime in New York City, and come in the wake of Mamdani attempting to walk back his 2020 comments that the New York Police Department was “a major threat to public safety.”
And they may have already cost him an endorsement.
Back in March, the woman-led New York City Deputy Sheriffs’ Benevolent Association endorsed Mamdani’s nearest rival, Andrew Cuomo.
In a statement, the organization said that “New York City needs a strong mayor, who isn’t afraid to ruffle feathers if it means keeping our neighborhoods safe.”
The “ruffling feathers” comment might be seen as a veiled reference to Mamdani’s explanation for why he did not act to stop rapes in Cairo, when many other Muslim men did so.
The revelations that Mamdani’s “wokeism” prevented him from engaging to stop rape emerge against the backdrop of Mamdani having employed an aide who was a child sex predator.
Earlier this year, the New York Post reported that Mamdani’s former campaign spokesman “served three months in jail for soliciting sex from a minor.”
They also come amid continued advocacy for “decarceration” by the mayoral frontrunner, with Mamdani arguing that jailing convicted criminals amounts to “prop[ping] up the exploitation of the market by surveilling, caging, and killing those fighting to survive under capitalism.”
It is not known whether he regarded those perpetrating gang rapes and other assaults on women during the protests as victims of the “market,” or if would have supported their arrest and imprisonment.
Mamdani has taken fire from sitting Mayor Eric Adams for his support for the full legalization, not merely decriminalization, of prostitution, which some Adams supporters believe would spike rapes and sexual assaults.
Last week, Adams—who before his exit from the race was endorsed by a full thirteen police unions— tweeted “Simple math: Decriminalize prostitution + shoplifting + misdemeanors + release 3,000 Rikers inmates/defund police + ban the SRG = WE ARE IN TROUBLE.”
A 2022 analysis of data from Europe, where prostitution is legal or less criminalized than in the US, shows that full legalization of prostitution—Mamdani’s position—correlates more strongly with ongoing rapes and sexual assaults than decriminalization.
Meantime, Rhode Island data suggests that decriminalization—a more moderate position than Mamdani’s—may not even correlate with a decline in rape rates, and that data indicating it did was probably cherry-picked by those who opposed prostitution remaining a criminal offence.
All of Mamdani’s rivals in the mayoral race have attacked him over his stances on law and order, which include longtime support for defunding the police and eliminating cash bail.
According to a recent Fox News poll, crime is the top voting issue in this year’s mayoral election.
Mamdani’s endorsements page indicates he has the support of only one law enforcement group, the Jamaica Integrated Bangladeshi Officers Network, a group that photos suggest has about ten members total.
Election Day is just under a month away. 77 WABC will continue to cover the race in detail, both on air, and in print.
