KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7 — Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was 14th in the Counter Extremism Project’s (CEP) list of "The Top 20 Most Dangerous Extremists Around the World”.

The US-based group named the secretary-general of Palestinian group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, as the most dangerous in the list, ahead of Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla who is the self-styled "caliph” of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.

The CEP presented the list as a collection of extremists across a spectrum of ideologies and beliefs, whom it said were "considered a huge threat to international security.”

In the entry for Dr Mahathir, the CEP cited him as anti-Semitic, a critic of the West, and highlighted his remarks about the October 2020 terrorist attack in France.

"Mahathir is not directly responsible for specific acts of violence. However, his controversial opinions have led to international condemnation as it was alleged Mahathir supported extremist violence against the West,” the CEP said.

After the terrorist attack in France, Dr Mahathir posted an opinion piece that contained a controversial paragraph that was singled out for criticism as it appeared to justify the violence.

The CEP was founded in 2014 by former US government officials and described its mission as "fighting global extremism” with a particular focus on disrupting the IS terrorist group.