Maajid Nawaz (born in 1977) is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Quilliam, a government-funded think tank based in London which dedicates itself to challenge religious extremism and to promote pluralism. Nawaz also founded a counter-extremist social movement in Pakistan named Khudi. Formerly involved in the global Islamist party Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) for almost 14 years, he was on the United Kingdom national leadership for HT and a founding member of HT in Denmark and Pakistan.
Nawaz eventually served four years in an Egyptian prison where he began changing his views until finally renouncing the Islamist ideology while remaining Muslim. Nowadays, he is a member of the Liberal Democrats in the United Kingdom. Nawaz holds a Master degree in political theory from the London School of Economics.
Riz Khan (born in 1962) is a British television news reporter and international journalist at Al Jazeera English in Washington D.C. which he joined in 2005. He hosts the network's flagship programme Riz Khan, a daily, interactive global show and Riz Khan's One on One, a weekly profile show. Khan grew up in the then British colony of Aden in the former South Yemen. In 1993, he joined BBC and three years later CNN. Khan became widely known as a senior anchor and host of his own show, interviewing more heads of state and business personalities than any other global interactive news show presenter.
He left CNN in 2001 in order to found and run Colourblind Entertainment, an independent production company. Khan was educated in Great Britain and holds a postgraduate degree in radio journalism from the University of Portsmouth.
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