A WESTCLIFF-BORN radio presenter who Sir David Amess helped rescue from an Egyptian prison has labelled his killing a ‘great loss’ for democracy.

Maajid Nawaz, 43, paid tribute to the father-of-five on his LBC radio show following the tragic killing of the Southend West MP on Friday.

Mr Nawaz, who was born in Southend and attended Westcliff High Schools for Boys, first met Sir David Amess in 2004 when the MP fought for his release from prison.

Nawaz was jailed in Egypt in 2002 while a member of radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir – which sought to establish an Islamic caliphate and enforce Sharia law globally.

While imprisoned he was declared a ‘prisoner of conscience’ – somebody imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views – by Amnesty International and in 2005 Sir David visited as part of a campaign for his freedom.

Speaking on his LBC radio show, Mr Nawaz said: “While nobody had much to gain politically, especially if they are on the right of the Conservative party, from speaking out and defending somebody like me just a few years after 9/11, he did.

“Certainly, most public figures did not speak up, despite the fact that amnesty international adopted us as prisoners of conscience. And yet Sir David Amess MP spoke out, at the request of my mother, who was one of his constituents. He spoke out with nothing to gain, while the war on terror was in full swing.”

He added: “To be able to strike that balance and earn the respect of those who politically came from a polar opposite direction, as I was at the time. At the time I didn’t even believe in the legitimacy of the very system that he represented. Just think about that.

“And here was a man, who mostly alone, stood for my basic human rights despite disagreeing with me at the time.”

After his release in 2006, Mr Nawaz turned his back on radicalism and founded the Quilliam Foundation, a think tank which fights the radicalisation of young Muslims.

Now he hosts an LBC radio show every Saturday and Sunday.

Paying tribute to Sir David, he added: “To have lost an MP like that is a huge loss for our democracy and for the people that he was always there for. You don’t have to agree with every single one of a politician’s positions to recognise that rare politician when come along, who quite evidently, has that very difficult balance.

“The balance of standing by your genuinely held beliefs and being accessible and among your constituents.”