People have begun fact-checking Mamdani’s story about his aunt being afraid to ride the subway after 9/11 with her hijab, and it looks like she wasn’t even in the US during this time.
In fact, her job posting said she was in Tanzania during and well after 9/11.
Zohran Mamdani’s aunt did not stop taking the subway after 9/11.
She never took it in the first place—she lived in Tanzania. pic.twitter.com/SI4W6sxjr7
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) October 26, 2025
And from what others have found, she may not even wear a hijab at all:
Zohran Mamdani’s aunt neither wears a hijab nor lived in NYC before, during, or after 9/11.
In fact, she lived in Tanzania from January 2000 to December 2003. 🤔 pic.twitter.com/BTug7BohKT
— The Persian Jewess (@persianjewess) October 26, 2025
Now look, there may be things being overlooked by fact-checkers, so I’m not going to say we know definitively that he was lying about this. But it kinda looks that way.