Shiraz Maher

Shiraz Maher

Shiraz Maher was a Senior Fellow at the neoconservative Policy Exchange and ran Standpoint magazine's Focus on Islamism blog with Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow at King's College London's International Center for the Study of Radicalisation.

Like several other Muslims feted by neoconservatives, he also claims to be a reformed Islamist (which he equates with extremism). Like his fellow extremists-turned-neocons, Maher is not shy to flaunt his extremist past. He did a show for BBC's Panorama entitled 'How I became a Muslim extremist' and he also highlights his extremist past as a qualification in his Standpoint magazine bio:'From 2002-2005 he was a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, becoming regional officer for north-east England before resigning as a matter of conscience.'. In March 2009 Maher led a neocon campaign in support of Hazel Blears's efforts to get Daud Abdullah fired as the deputy secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain for signing the Istanbul Declaration in support of Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation.

At the peak of Israel's bombing of Gaza earlier in 2009, Maher contributed an article to the Daily Telegraph titled 'Britain's Muslims should condemn Hamas, not Israel'. Besides using familiar neocon memes such as 'moral relativism' in the article, Maher goes on to present British Muslims with a choice: 'between Hamas, a terrorist group committed to destroying a sovereign state and its people – and Israel, the region's only democracy which is responding to that threat'.

Publications

• Shiraz Maher and Martyn Frampton, Choosing Our Friends Wisely: Criteria for engagement with Muslim groups, Policy Exchange, 8 March 2009.
• Shiraz Maher, Declaring a civil war in Syria could inspire more to turn from Assad, The Spectator, 16 July 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, An arms race in the Middle East is a real possibility, The Spectator, 20 July 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Tony Blair’s legacy on tackling extremism, The Spectator, 24 July 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Talk of an imminent victory in Syria is overstated, The Spectator, 26 July 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Remembering the Munich victims, The Spectator, 27 July 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Romney’s foreign tour isn’t derailing his campaign, The Spectator, 30 July 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, The revival of Prince Bandar bin Sultan, The Spectator, 2 August 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Annan’s resignation suggests a military resolution to Syrian conflict, The Spectator, 3 August 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, What the government should do to tackle honour violence and forced marriages, The Spectator, 4 August 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, The rot at the heart of the Syrian administration, The Spectator, 6 August 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, What multiculturalism really means, The Spectator, 7 August 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Memoir of an Islamist, The Spectator, 9 August 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, How William Hague changed the Foreign Office, The Spectator, 10 August 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Mursi shores up his powers, The Spectator, 13 August 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Saudi Arabia is the early victor of the Arab Spring, The Spectator, 14 August 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, British residents join Syrian uprising, The Spectator, 16 August 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Is Mursi really trying to build links with Tehran?, The Spectator, 21 August 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Galloway and Murray’s smears ignore how simple the Assange case is, The Spectator, 22 August 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Mursi’s mischief and muscle in Iran, The Spectator, 30 August 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Citizen Khan says absolutely nothing new, The Spectator, 3 September 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Blair should not be cowed by Tutu, The Spectator, 4 September 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, How Iranian media saved Ahmadinejad from embarrassment, The Spectator, 5 September 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Save the Children and Osama bin Laden, The Spectator, 6 September 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, The latest attempt at British justice for Babar Ahmad will probably fail, The Spectator, 7 September 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Why the bounty on Salman Rushdie has increased, The Spectator, 17 September 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, We need to hear more from Tony Blair on Syria, The Spectator, 18 September 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Western governments are failing to stand up for their own values, The Spectator, 20 September 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Afghanistan’s triumph: the return of cricket and other ‘frivolities’, The Spectator, 21 September 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Israel faces difficult choices over the Sinai, The Spectator, 24 September 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, The death of Osama bin Laden, The Spectator, 25 September 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, The era of Abu Hamza is now finally drawing to a close, The Spectator, 25 September 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Obama’s ‘economic patriotism’ attack on Romney, The Spectator, 2 October 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Will the protests in Iran continue to build or fade away?, The Spectator, 5 October 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Should British citizens expect British justice?, The Spectator, 6 October 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, The shooting of Malala Yousufzai, The Spectator, 10 October 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Britain’s illiberal state, The Spectator, 12 October 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Gary McKinnon case: campaigners accuse Theresa May of double standards, The Spectator, 16 October 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Why Prince Charles’ letters should not be published, The Spectator, 17 October 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Ahmadinejad vs Iranian judiciary, The Spectator, 22 October 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Muslims and the Republican vote, The Spectator, 30 October 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, David Cameron is out to warn of the nuclear threat from Iran, The Spectator, 6 November 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Obama’s top foreign policy concerns for his second term, The Spectator, 8 November 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Abu Qatada walks free at our expense, The Spectator, 13 November 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Can Hamas contain Gaza’s other terrorist groups?, The Spectator, 15 November 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, The Petraeus and Allen business raises questions about US defence, The Spectator, 15 November 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Jordanians protest against King Abdullah, The Spectator, 16 November 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, The Gazan conflict poses a dilemma for Mohammed Morsi, The Spectator, 19 November 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Operation Pillar of Defence leads Israel to strategic failure, The Spectator, 22 November 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Few would shed tears if Britain barred Anjem Choudary from returning, The Spectator, 27 November 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Could a major escalation in the Syrian conflict be imminent?, The Spectator, 30 November 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, Mursi has divided Egypt in two with his authoritarianism, The Spectator, 3 December 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, What can the international community do to stop Assad using chemical weapons?, The Spectator, 6 December 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, A long road ahead for equal rights in Saudi Arabia, The Spectator, 19 December 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, How Obama united Syria’s rebel groups, The Spectator, 20 December 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, ‘One Pound Fish’ singer deported, The Spectator, 26 December 2012.
• Shiraz Maher, New terrorism control measures under the spotlight, The Spectator, 2 January 2013.
• Shiraz Maher, What can the Pakistani government do about drones?, The Spectator, 3 January 2013.
• Shiraz Maher, The need for self-assured American power has never been greater, The Spectator, 8 January 2013.

Affiliations

• Standpoint magazine (he is credited with running its Focus on Islamism blog
• Policy Exchange - Senior Fellow
• International Center for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College London - Senior Research Fellow
• Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya - panelist at an 11 September 2008 meeting of the World Summit on Counter-Terrorism in Israel ICSR Hosts Panel of Experts on Deradicalisation (accessed 29 November 2009)
• The Spittoon - Blogs cross-posted frequently