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Source: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2165439,00.html
Leading Militant in Split with Islamists
[Observer-UK] Peter Beaumont - One of the most senior members of the Islamist Hizb ut-Tahrir movement, the group which Tony Blair pledged to ban after the 7 July bombings, has dramatically defected. Maajid Nawaz, a Briton who was jailed in Egypt for four years in 2002, says that he no longer agrees with the movement's attempts to transform Islam into a narrow political ideology. Despite being only 29, he was recognized globally for his work in founding new groups abroad. His reasons for quitting have been posted on Hizb ut-Tahrir's British website. They include a rejection of the argument by Islamists - including al-Qaeda - that Arab governments operating under non-Islamic law should be removed.