Rabina Khan

Cllr
Rabina Khan
Councillor of Shadwell ward
in Tower Hamlets Borough
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded by Mohammed Rashid
Personal details
Born (1972-09-15) 15 September 1972
Sylhet, Bangladesh
Nationality British
Political party Labour (until 2010)
Independent (2010–2014)
Tower Hamlets First (2014–2015)
Independent (2015–present)
Spouse(s) Aminur Rashid Khan (m. 1992)
Children 3
Residence Whitechapel, Tower Hamlets, London, England
Occupation Writer, novelist, film producer, creative consultant, playwright, community worker
Profession Politician
Religion Islam
Website www.rabina4mayor.com

Rabina Khan (Bengali: রবিনা খান; born 15 September 1972) is a Bangladeshi-born British writer, politician, councillor for Shadwell, former Cabinet Member for Housing in Tower Hamlets Council, community worker and author of Ayesha's Rainbow. In 2015, she unsuccessfully contested the Tower Hamlets Mayoral Election.

Early life

Khan's father worked as a machine operator at Chatham Dockyards in Kent, he returned to Bangladesh to get married. Khan was born in Sylhet, Bangladesh, and brought to England by her mother at the age of three.[1] Khan grew up in Rochester, Kent.[2] She is the eldest of five siblings, and has one brother and three sisters.[1]

In 1992, at the age of 19, after completing her A-levels, Khan had an arranged marriage with trainee teacher, Aminur Rashid Khan, and moved to Tower Hamlets, London.[1][3] At around the age of 22, Khan began wearing hijab.[1]

Community work

In 1991, Khan's first job was securing work experience placements for secondary school pupils.[2] Khan has since worked as a community regeneration worker[1] in the Isle of Dogs, Tower Hamlets in the East End of London.[4] She has worked for Tower Hamlets Council in the social and education sectors, and for government regeneration initiatives such as Bethnal Green City Challenge managing education and empowerment projects for women and young girls from ethnic minority communities. She has also been involved in community initiatives in Tower Hamlets.[3][5]

In October 2012, Khan contributed on BBC Radio 4's Four Thought in a discussion about "redefining multiculturalism".[2]

Writing career

In 2003, Khan's first novel Rainbow Hands was published,[5] this was followed by a short story If Birds Could Fly, which was published in Channel 4's TN4 Magazine.[6] In September 2006, her second novel Ayesha's Rainbow was published.[7] Ayesha's Rainbow is a children's novel, which tells the story of a seven-year-old Bangladeshi girl, growing up in London's East End, who befriends an elderly, white neighbour. The story explores racism, prejudice and stereotyping that young Muslims experience in Britain.[1] It is partly autobiographical, based on Khan's own experiences growing up in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s,[4] and working as a community safety officer in the Isle of Dogs when British National Party candidate, Derek Beackon, was elected as a councillor in September 1993.[8][9]

Khan was awarded a place on the Royal Literary Fund Mentoring Scheme and asked to take part in the 2004 and 2005 Spitafields Women's Literary Festival.[3][10]

In June 2005, Khan co-founded Monsoon Press with Rekha Waheed.[1][8]

She has also been involved in editing the anthologies, Silent Voices[11] and Behind the Hijab.[12] From January 2006 to January 2008, Khan was writer in residence at Central Foundation Girls' School,[1][8] where she developed 'Exploring the Unthinkable', a project that explored equalities and diversity issues using creative writing and the arts.[13]

Khan has worked as a freelance creative consultant for the BBC, ITV, Rich Mix Cultural Foundation and the Wellcome Trust. She has contributed to BBC Asian Network.[14] In 2006, Khan featured in and was a script advisor for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's documentary Young, British and Muslim.[14]

In January 2007, Khan founded television production company, Silsila Productions.[15] Since 2007, she has been a Creative Director at Silsila Productions.[14] In 2007, she also wrote the play Shilpa and Jade for the Wellcome Trust Pulse Project.[16] In 2009, she wrote the screenplay Shahid and Annika.[17] She wrote and produced two short films – The Good Wife, sponsored by Sixteen Films, and Shrouded, commissioned by London Met Services.[16]

Political career

In May 2010, in the Tower Hamlets Council election, as a Labour Party candidate,[18] Khan won her Shadwell seat where previously a Labour candidate had failed three times to win. In October 2010, she was suspended along with nine other councillors from the Labour Party for supporting the newly elected Independent Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman.[19] In May 2014, she was re-elected in the Shadwell ward as a Tower Hamlets First candidate.[20] She was a member of Tower Hamlets First until it was disbanded in April 2015.[21]

From October 2010 to April 2015, Khan was also the Cabinet Member of Housing,[22] Development and Renewal with a remit for delivering housing pledges in Tower Hamlets Council.[23]

In April 2015, Khan along with the remaining 17 Tower Hamlets First councillors was described by Commissioner Richard Mawrey QC, acting as a judge in an election court investigating Lutfur Rahman's election, as being elected to Tower Hamlets Council "with the benefit of the corrupt and illegal practices". Although Khan was not implicated in any claims of electoral fraud.[24] In the same month, Khan announced that she will be standing in the election for mayor of Tower Hamlets[25][26][27][28][29][30] as an Independent candidate.[31] In June 2015, she came second to Labour candidate John Biggs.[32][24]

Awards and nominations

Khan has been awarded a Tower Hamlets Civic Award.[3][10] In 2010, she was short listed for the European Muslim Women of Influence Award.[16] In October 2014, she was named 'hero of the year' in the European Diversity awards for her engagement in the East End and wider society.[33][34]

Personal life

Khan is a Muslim and speaks Bengali.[1] She lives in Whitechapel, London[4] with her husband, Aminur, three children, and mother-in-law. In 2009, Khan's father died.[1]

Novels

Year Title Credit Publisher ISBN
2003 Rainbow Hands Author Authors Online 978-0755200887
If Birds Could Fly TN4 Magazine
2006 Ayesha's Rainbow Fore-Word Press 978-0954886721
2007 Silent Voices Editor Monsoon Press 978-0955726705
2009 Behind the Hijab 978-0955726712

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Kemp, Charlotte (29 August 2009). "'The veil should not be a barrier between women'". Abu Dhabi: The National. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 "Rabina Khan: Redefining Multiculturalism". Four Thought. BBC Radio 4. 17 October 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Biography for Rabina Khan". Authors OnLine. Archived from the original on 18 June 2007.
  4. 1 2 3 Saini, Angela (1 February 2007). "Racism in words". London: BBC News. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Author profile: Rabina Khan". Fore-word Press Ltd. 2005. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  6. ↑ "Books and Writing". Rabina Khan. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014.
  7. ↑ Khan, Rabina (2006). Ayesha's Rainbow. Fore-Word Press. ISBN 978-0954886721. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 "Book week: Profile – Rabina Khan". Asians in Media. 14 September 2007. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  9. ↑ Rahman, Emdad (September 2006). "Ayesha's Rainbow: By Rabina Khan". CyberSylhet.com. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  10. 1 2 "author Rabina Khan". fore-word press. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  11. ↑ Khan, Rabina (2007). Silent Voices. Monsoon Press. ISBN 978-0955726705. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  12. ↑ Khan, Rabina (2009). Behind the Hijab. Monsoon Press. ISBN 978-0955726712. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  13. ↑ McAlea, Leigh (11 July 2007). "Spare Time". London: BBC News. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  14. 1 2 3 "Projects - Challenging Extremism". Silsila Productions. 21 May 2009. Retrieved 1 May 2012. Rabina Khan
  15. ↑ "Rabina Khan – Artists directory". Arts & Entertainment. Tower Hamlets. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  16. 1 2 3 "Rabina Khan". MBA Literary Agents. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  17. ↑ "Projects - Behind the Hijab". Silsila Productions. 4 March 2009. Retrieved 1 May 2012. Rabina Khan
  18. ↑ "Election results for Shadwell". Tower Hamlets Council. 6 May 2010. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  19. ↑ Gilligan, Andrew (1 October 2010). "Lutfur Rahman: Eleven are expelled from the Labour Party". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  20. ↑ "Election results for Shadwell". Tower Hamlets Council. 22 May 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  21. ↑ Croucher, Shane (10 June 2015). "Rabina Khan: Lutfur Rahman is not bankrolling my Tower Hamlets mayor campaign". International Business Times. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  22. ↑ "London Borough of Tower Hamlets". London Councils' Directory. 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  23. ↑ Karim, Mohammed Abdul; Karim, Shahadoth (October 2011). British Bangladeshi Who's Who (PDF). British Bangla Media Group. p. 68. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  24. 1 2 Syal, Rajeev (12 June 2015). "John Biggs elected as Labour mayor of Tower Hamlets". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  25. ↑ Brooke, Mike (1 May 2015). "Rabina Khan takes on fight for sacked mayor Rahman for Tower Hamlets re-run election". London: East London Advertiser. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  26. ↑ de Peyer, Robin (30 April 2015). "Disgraced ex-Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman calls on supporters to donate funds for legal challenge". London: London Evening Standard. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  27. ↑ "Lutfur Rahman names woman he wants to succeed him as mayor". London: ITV News. 30 April 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  28. ↑ "Disgraced Lutfur Rahman endorses Rabina Khan for Tower Hamlets mayor". Bangladesh: Bdnews24.com. 2 May 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  29. ↑ Abedin, Syed Zahirul (9 June 2015). "Rabina Khan intends to lead transparent Tower Hamlets". News Bangladesh. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  30. ↑ Hill, Dave (5 June 2015). "Nerves and defiance in re-run Tower Hamlets mayoral race". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  31. ↑ Sewell, Dave (26 May 2015). "Rabina Khan's anti-austerity message welcome in Tower Hamlets". Socialist Worker. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  32. ↑ Saini, Angela (12 June 2015). "Tower Hamlets election: Labour's John Biggs named mayor". London: BBC News. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  33. ↑ Asaad Buaras, Elham (28 November 2014). "Muslim Councillor wins European diversity award". The Muslim News. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  34. ↑ Brooke, Mike (6 October 2014). "East End housing cabinet member Rabina wins European Diversity award". London: East London Advertiser. Retrieved 1 May 2015.

External links

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