Presenter Maajid Nawaz is axed by LBC: Anti-extremism activist who was accused of tweeting ‘deranged rubbish’ about vaccines by host Iain Dale and faced criticism for spreading Covid conspiracy theories leaves radio station
- Maajid Nawaz will be leaving weekend show with ‘immediate effect’, said LBC
- Radio station has not yet confirmed the reason for presenter’s early departure
- Shortly after announcement, Mr Nawaz said he ‘refuses to go quietly into night’
- It follows colleague Iain Dale criticising him on ‘dangerously irresponsible’ tweet
Radio presenter Maajid Nawaz who has been accused of tweeting ‘deranged rubbish’ about vaccines by fellow host Iain Dale and was criticised for spreading Covid conspiracy theories has today been axed by LBC with ‘immediate effect.’
The anti-extremism activist, 43, will no longer be presenting his weekend show following discussions with the London-based radio station.
LBC has not yet confirmed the reason for his early departure or a replacement for his lunchtime slot.
But shortly after the announcement, Mr Nawaz said he ‘refuses to go quietly into the night’, adding the show was ‘his family’s only source of income’.
The host has faced criticism for sharing Covid conspiracy theories during the pandemic and, most recently, querying the use of the booster jab.
Radio presenter Maajid Nawaz (pictured in December 2016), 43, will be leaving his weekend show with ‘immediate effect’, said the London-based radio station
The host has been accused of tweeting ‘deranged rubbish’ about the Covid booster vaccine by his colleague Iain Dale (pictured)
Maajid Nawaz spent 13 years inside Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), the global Islamist organisation that first spawned al-Muhajiroun – the banned Islamist terrorist organisation founded by Omar Bakri Mohammed and Anjem Choudary.
But he renounced his past and called for a ‘secular Islam’ after serving time in an Egyptian prison.
Nawaz, who was convicted of ‘membership of a banned organisation’ and sentenced to serve five years in Mazra Tora prison, went on to set up the Quilliam Foundation, a counter-extremism think-tank.
The law graduate was raised in Essex in what he described as ‘an educated, middle-class and well integrated family’.
But after experiencing severe and violent racism as a teenager and feeling cut off from mainstream society, the think-tank founder says he was sold Islamism in the name of Islam by a HT preacher, and sucked into a group that encouraged him to ‘spout hate’.
After reflecting on his membership during his imprisonment, the 43-year-old renounced the group.
He says that Islamism ‘uses political grievances to alienate and then provide an alternative sense of belonging to vulnerable young Muslims’.
In a statement, the radio station said: ‘Maajid Nawaz’s contract with LBC is up very shortly and following discussions with him, Maajid will no longer present a show on LBC with immediate effect.
‘We thank Maajid for the contribution he has made to LBC and wish him well.’
Mr Nawaz tweeted in response: ‘I refuse to go quietly into the night.
‘Please become a paid subscriber to my substack newsletter I’ll post there soon but forgive the basic set up for now.
‘I have a wife and child to support and my show was our family’s only source of income. Thank you.’
Last month, the radio host was criticised by his colleague over a ‘dangerously irresponsible’ tweet.
Referring to the booster jab, Mr Nawaz wrote online: ‘What we do know already, backed up by much academic research, is that MASS-VACCINATION DURING A PANDEMIC, with a jab that has not been studied for long-term side effects, could be doing more harm than good.’
Mr Dale responded: ‘Enough.
‘What we do know already is that it’s dangerously irresponsible to tweet this kind of deranged rubbish.
‘What it is designed to do is to sow seeds of doubt in people’s minds. What is more dangerous is not to have the jabs.
‘Given you’ve had them, why do you tweet this garbage?’
Mr Nawaz, who is vaccinated but has said he won’t get the booster, wrote ‘Thuglife’ in response to his fellow radio host calling him dangerous.
He further said that those who condemned him were ‘unable to respond to any of the substance or points raised’.
And in November 2020, Mr Nawaz retweeted a ‘fascinating thread’ concerning how the ‘myth’ of a killer coronavirus pandemic had been spread, adding he had no views on the claim.
British-born Nawaz was jailed in Egypt in 2005 for his role in radical Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
On his return to England in 2006, he renounced his views and quickly established himself as a spokesman on extremism issues.
In the 2015 general election, he was selected by then Lib Dem party leader Nick Clegg to fight the London marginal seat of Hampstead and Kilburn.
The radio station said: ‘Maajid Nawaz’s contract with LBC is up very shortly and following discussions with him, Maajid will no longer present a show on LBC with immediate effect’
Last month, the radio host was criticised by his colleague over a ‘dangerously irresponsible’ tweet (Twitter exchange pictured above)
British-born Nawaz was jailed in Egypt in 2005 for his role in radical Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir. On his return to England in 2006, he renounced his views and quickly established himself as a spokesman on extremism issues
A spokesman for Mr Nawaz previously said: ‘My client was imprisoned in Egypt for a political offence under the former Mubarak government, having been tried by an exceptional court, established under Emergency Law that suspended the constitution.
‘Moreover, Mubarak’s regime and his treatment of political prisoners have since been indisputably condemned by all Western governments and press.
‘Because of the circumstances under which he was imprisoned, Mr Nawaz was adopted by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience.
‘Finally, Mr Nawaz is now one of the fiercest critics of Islamism in general, and of his former group Hizb ut-Tahrir in particular.’
MailOnline has reached out to LBC’s owner, Global, for further comment.
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