Mehdi Raza Hasan was born on July 1979 and is a British-American broadcaster and best-selling author.
36 Facts About Mehdi Hasan
2.
Mehdi Hasan has presented The Mehdi Hasan Show on Peacock since October 2020 and on MSNBC since February 2021.
3.
In 2015, Hasan moved to Washington, DC, United States, to work full-time for Al Jazeera on UpFront and host the Deconstructed podcast produced by the online publication The Intercept from 2018 to 2020.
4.
Mehdi Hasan is the author of Win Every Argument, and the co-author of a biography of Ed Miliband and was formerly the political editor of the UK edition of The Huffington Post and the presenter of the Al Jazeera English shows: The Cafe, Head to Head and UpFront.
5.
Mehdi Raza Hasan was born in Swindon to immigrant Indian Hyderabadi Shia Muslim parents from the city of Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh, South India.
6.
Mehdi Hasan was privately educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood, a day independent school for boys at Sandy Lodge in the Three Rivers District of Hertfordshire, near the town of Northwood in North West London.
7.
Mehdi Hasan then attended Christ Church, Oxford, where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and graduated in 2000.
8.
Mehdi Hasan worked as a researcher and then producer on LWT's Jonathan Dimbleby programme, with a brief period in between on BBC One's The Politics Show.
9.
Mehdi Hasan was appointed senior editor for politics at the New Statesman in late spring of 2009, where he stayed until May 2012, then becoming political director of The Huffington Post website.
10.
Mehdi Hasan became a presenter on Al Jazeera's English news channel in May 2012.
11.
Mehdi Hasan has appeared on the BBC's Question Time programme, and the Sunday morning programmes The Big Questions and Sunday Morning Live.
12.
In 2013, Mehdi Hasan took part in a debate at the Oxford Union to consider whether Islam is a peaceful religion.
13.
Mehdi Hasan, who is an Ithna'Asheri Shia Muslim, vouched for Islam as a religion of peace, citing political and cultural reasons for violence in Muslim majority countries, as opposed to holding the religion of Islam responsible.
14.
Since 2015, working full-time for the network in Washington, DC, Mehdi Hasan has hosted a weekly interview and discussion programme.
15.
Mehdi Hasan began a podcast in 2018 entitled Deconstructed, produced by the investigative journalism website The Intercept.
16.
On 2 October 2020, Hasan announced that he would no longer host the show as part of his move to host The Mehdi Hasan Show on NBC's new streaming service, Peacock.
17.
Mehdi Hasan became a naturalized citizen of the United States on 9 October 2020, in time to vote in the 2020 United States presidential election.
18.
Notable guests on The Mehdi Hasan Show have included Mark Ruffalo, Jon Stewart, John Bolton, Keith Ellison, Ro Khanna, John Legend, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
19.
In March 2021, Mehdi Hasan launched the same show on MSNBC every Sunday evening.
20.
Mehdi Hasan is the fill-in host on MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes, The Rachel Maddow Show, The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle and The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell.
21.
Mehdi Hasan wrote an article in The Guardian in September 2011 condemning the Iranian government for its proposed execution of Youcef Nadarkhani, who had been arrested on charges of apostasy.
22.
In November 2009, Mehdi Hasan wrote a column denouncing suicide bombing from an Islamic perspective.
23.
In January 2012, Mehdi Hasan wrote a piece emphasizing the importance of acknowledging the Holocaust as a "uniquely horrific crime against humanity," and called on British Muslims and the larger Muslim world to take it more seriously.
24.
Mehdi Hasan pointed out that Masood converted to Islam late in life and had a history of criminality prior to his conversion.
25.
In October 2013, on the BBC's Question Time, Mehdi Hasan claimed that the Daily Mail was, among other accusations, "Muslim-smearing".
26.
Mehdi Hasan has defended his anti-abortion views in print, writing "What I would like is for my fellow lefties and liberals to try to understand and respect the views of those of us who are pro-life" in an October 2012 online column for the New Statesman.
27.
However, the article gained much attention on Twitter and Mehdi Hasan debated the issue with Suzanne Moore on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
28.
Mehdi Hasan has been critical of the human rights situation in Pakistan, expressing disapproval of the country's treatment of minorities including its blasphemy law, as well as enforced disappearances in Balochistan.
29.
Mehdi Hasan has criticised the human rights situation in both Indian and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and has called out alleged backing from Pakistan for terror groups like Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba to carry out attacks in the Indian-administered region.
30.
Mehdi Hasan has made several statements in opposition to the Saudi government, including challenging a statement made by Donald Trump, in which he claimed that he himself had no financial interests in Saudi Arabia, an allegation which Trump called "fake news".
31.
Mehdi Hasan challenged Trump's statements in a video essay published by The Intercept in October 2018.
32.
In February 2019, during a debate organised by Intelligence Squared in London, Mehdi Hasan stated that the West should cut ties with Saudi Arabia, saying.
33.
The comments were made in response to the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, allegedly ordered by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad Bin Salman, as well as several human rights violations which Mehdi Hasan cited as being carried out by Saudi Arabia.
34.
Mehdi Hasan had previously interviewed Khashoggi about freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia.
35.
In January 2014, Mehdi Hasan was awarded the Services to Media award at the British Muslim Awards.
36.
In 2019, Mehdi Hasan won the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi Award for Online Column Writing.