Role at the time: New York City Council member giving her own interview response
"being treated differently simply because he is Muslim"
Hanif opposed efforts to exclude Mamdani from the memorial, arguing that he was being treated differently because of his Muslim identity and invoking Muslim New Yorkers' losses and experiences after September 11.
- First noted
- September 10, 2026
- Published here
- September 10, 2026
- People and groups discussed
- Zohran Mamdani
Why we used this label
She directly challenges the exclusion campaign and defends Mamdani's participation; her account of the opponents' motivation is attributed rather than independently established.
Context
Before the quotation
Some former officials and victims' relatives had requested that Mamdani not attend the September 11 ceremony; he said he would attend.
After the quotation
CNN also interviewed an opponent who expressly denied a religious rationale. The exact interview time is unknown; occurredAt is a September 10 report-date proxy set to 12:00Z, not an asserted time of speech.
Sources
CNN's original reporting directly attributes different positions to city council member Shahana Hanif and victim's widow Cheri Sparacio. Hanif objects to exclusion on religious grounds; Sparacio says her objection concerns Mamdani's policies and associations, not his religion. The page specifies publication on September 10 at 5:00 a.m. ET. The individual interview times are unknown; related positions use September 10 at 12:00Z only as a publication-date proxy.