Maajid Nawaz

Quilliam Foundation Ltd entered creditors' voluntary liquidation in 2021 and was dissolved in 2023. The closure prompted public questions about the organisation's funding and trajectory after years of prominence.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Institutional responsibility

In January 2022, LBC announced that Nawaz would no longer present his programme 'with immediate effect'. The departure followed strong internal and external criticism of his statements about vaccines and the pandemic; Nawaz said he had not resigned.

Attribution

Directly implicated

On an episode of 'The Joe Rogan Experience', Nawaz claimed, among other things, that vaccines did not protect children against serious illness, that England had fewer infections than Scotland and Wales and that only approximately 17,000 Britons had actually died from Covid. Full Fact checked the assertions and judged them false or misleading.

Legal status — source text

Not applicable

Attribution

Personally implicated

A 2017 Quilliam report claimed that 84% of the 264 perpetrators identified in its sample of organised child sexual exploitation gangs were Asian, a figure widely repeated in political and media debate. Nawaz was Quilliam's chairman at the time.

State of the evidence

Documented

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Not applicable

Attribution

Institutional responsibility

From 2020, Nawaz repeated or lent credence to claims about US election fraud, voting machines, Antifa, health restrictions and a purported global authoritarian project. The Guardian described a growing fascination with conspiracy narratives.

State of the evidence

Allegations

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Attribution

Personally implicated

The SPLC included Nawaz and Quilliam in its 'Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists'. Nawaz threatened defamation proceedings. In 2018, the SPLC withdrew the guide, acknowledged that it had been wrong, publicly apologised and agreed to a $3.375 million settlement.

State of the evidence

Settlement

Nawaz, then a Liberal Democrat candidate, tweeted a 'Jesus and Mo' cartoon to defend the view that depicting Muhammad was not automatically offensive. A petition called for his removal as a candidate, and he received threats.

State of the evidence

Reported by the press

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Attribution

Personally implicated

Quilliam and Nawaz announced that they had helped Tommy Robinson and Kevin Carroll leave the English Defence League. The initiative was welcomed as an attempt at deradicalisation but also criticised, with some questioning Robinson's motives and the depth of his break.

State of the evidence

Disputed

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Not applicable

Attribution

Institutional responsibility

The Quilliam Foundation, co-founded by Nawaz, received substantial public funding under counter-extremism policies. Critics accused it of being too close to the government or even acting as an extension of its Prevent strategy.

State of the evidence

Documented

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Attribution

Institutional responsibility

A Quilliam document sent to Britain's counterterrorism lead classified numerous Muslim groups, mosques, leaders and even a police unit as sharing an Islamist ideology close to that of terrorists, while distinguishing their tactics. Critics described the document as 'McCarthyite'.

State of the evidence

Documented

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Not applicable

Attribution

Institutional responsibility

In his youth, Maajid Nawaz joined Hizb ut-Tahrir and participated in its international activism before gradually breaking with Islamist ideology. That past became the foundation of his later counter-extremism work.

State of the evidence

Documented

Legal status — source text

Not applicable

Nawaz was arrested and imprisoned in Egypt for his involvement with Hizb ut-Tahrir. Amnesty International adopted him as a prisoner of conscience and supported his release.

State of the evidence

Documented