Death threats: Liberal Democrat hopeful Maajid Nawaz (Picture: Getty)
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Liberal Democrat hopeful Maajid Nawaz has been ordered to install a
home panic alarm by anti-terror police after becoming the target of
“specific” death threats from IS militants, he claimed today.
CCTV footage leaked to a newspaper at the weekend showed
anti-extremism campaigner Mr Nawaz, who is contesting the marginal
Hampstead and Kilburn seat, having a private lap dance at an east London
strip club on his stag night last summer.
Abdul Malik, the club’s owner, said he released the video to expose Mr Nawaz, a self-proclaimed feminist who is the co-founder of counter-extremism think-tank Quilliam, as a “hypocrite”.
In a statement on his Facebook profile, Mr Nawaz, 37, said he had since been ordered by Scotland Yard to increase security measures at his home in west London after IS militants made direct calls for his death.
He wrote: “This latest episode of my dehumanisation culminated yesterday in yet another call from Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism branch, who warned of new specific ISIS calls for my death after this latest smear campaign went viral.
“Yesterday evening and for the first time, counter-terrorism police ordered the installation of a direct panic alarm in my home from fear of a terrorist attack.”
The father-of-one visited Charlie’s Angels strip club in Aldgate for his stag party last July. He has apologised for causing offence to fellow Muslims, but insisted he is not a hypocrite and that Rachel, who is now his wife, had been aware.
He said he did not “claim to be a religious role model”.
He continued: “I never describe myself as a representative of Muslims in media, and speak as a liberal, who happens to be a non-devout Muslim, with a unique experience and insight into Islamist extremism.
“Therefore, my fellow Muslims, I am genuinely sorry that my being in a strip club during a stag night offended you, but I never claimed to represent our religion.”
Mr Nawaz said he did not agree visiting gentlemen’s clubs “objectifies women”, adding: “My feminism extends to empowering women to make legal choices, not to judge the legal choices they make.”
He also questioned the timing of the leak being so close to the election and added that he and his wife had received “scary unsolicited emails” soon after his visit.
He added: “I am sorry that though I have every right to behave as I like within the law, many will have seen that footage and wished that I had chosen not to go. I am sorry to Rachel, my son, and my family.”
Mr Nawaz joined Islamist revolutionary group Hizb ut-Tahrir aged just 16 and was imprisoned in Egypt from 2002 until 2006.
He later turned his back on the group’s ideology and founded Quilliam.
In 2013 he was selected to stand as a parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Democrats in Hampstead and Kilburn.
Scotland Yard refused to comment.
Abdul Malik, the club’s owner, said he released the video to expose Mr Nawaz, a self-proclaimed feminist who is the co-founder of counter-extremism think-tank Quilliam, as a “hypocrite”.
In a statement on his Facebook profile, Mr Nawaz, 37, said he had since been ordered by Scotland Yard to increase security measures at his home in west London after IS militants made direct calls for his death.
He wrote: “This latest episode of my dehumanisation culminated yesterday in yet another call from Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism branch, who warned of new specific ISIS calls for my death after this latest smear campaign went viral.
“Yesterday evening and for the first time, counter-terrorism police ordered the installation of a direct panic alarm in my home from fear of a terrorist attack.”
The father-of-one visited Charlie’s Angels strip club in Aldgate for his stag party last July. He has apologised for causing offence to fellow Muslims, but insisted he is not a hypocrite and that Rachel, who is now his wife, had been aware.
He said he did not “claim to be a religious role model”.
He continued: “I never describe myself as a representative of Muslims in media, and speak as a liberal, who happens to be a non-devout Muslim, with a unique experience and insight into Islamist extremism.
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“Therefore, my fellow Muslims, I am genuinely sorry that my being in a strip club during a stag night offended you, but I never claimed to represent our religion.”
Mr Nawaz said he did not agree visiting gentlemen’s clubs “objectifies women”, adding: “My feminism extends to empowering women to make legal choices, not to judge the legal choices they make.”
He also questioned the timing of the leak being so close to the election and added that he and his wife had received “scary unsolicited emails” soon after his visit.
He added: “I am sorry that though I have every right to behave as I like within the law, many will have seen that footage and wished that I had chosen not to go. I am sorry to Rachel, my son, and my family.”
Mr Nawaz joined Islamist revolutionary group Hizb ut-Tahrir aged just 16 and was imprisoned in Egypt from 2002 until 2006.
He later turned his back on the group’s ideology and founded Quilliam.
In 2013 he was selected to stand as a parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Democrats in Hampstead and Kilburn.
Scotland Yard refused to comment.
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