[1] He studied political science at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and obtained a master's degree in international and European law.

[6] After several years involved in party organisation and in local politics, Mahdi was elected a reserve member of the Chamber of Representatives for the constituency of Flemish Brabant in the 2019 Belgian federal election, and in March 2020 took his seat in the chamber when Koen Geens became a member of the Wilmès II Government.

[9] After the outbreak of the 2021 Taliban offensive, a few days before the establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, he refused to impose a moratorium on Belgium deportation practices to Afghanistan, despite calls from the Afghan government, the European Union and Amnesty International to stop those extraditions on the ground of degrading humanitarian situation.

The strikers had halted their two-months long hunger strike in July 2021 after representatives of Mahdi promised them that their individual files will be accepted for regularization.

[11] In May 2022, following an early election due to a significant drop in the party's standing in the polls, he ran again for the presidency of the CD&V.