Rabina Khan

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 Division, Bangladesh, and brought to England by her mother at the age of three. Khan grew up in Rochester, Kent. She is the eldest of five siblings, and has one brother and three sisters.

In 1992, at the age of 19, after completing her A-levels, Khan had an arranged marriage with trainee teacher, Aminur Rashid Khan (born 1968), and moved to Tower Hamlets, London. At around the age of 22, Khan began wearing hijab.

Community work

In 1991, Khan's first job was securing work experience placements for secondary school pupils. Khan has since worked as a community regeneration worker in the Isle of Dogs, Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. 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.

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

Writing career

In 2003, Khan's first novel Rainbow Hands was published, this was followed by a short story If Birds Could Fly, which was published in Channel 4's TN4 Magazine. In September 2006, her second novel Ayesha's Rainbow was published. 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. It is partly autobiographical, based on Khan's own experiences growing up in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s, 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.

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.

In June 2005, Khan co-founded Monsoon Press with Rekha Waheed.

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

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. In 2006, Khan featured in and was a script advisor for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's documentary Young, British and Muslim.

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

Political career

In May 2010, in the Tower Hamlets Council election, as a Labour Party candidate, 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. In May 2014, she was re-elected in the Shadwell ward as a Tower Hamlets First candidate. She was a member of Tower Hamlets First until it was disbanded in April 2015.

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

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. In the same month, Khan announced that she will be standing in the election for mayor of Tower Hamlets as an Independent candidate. In June 2015, she came second to Labour candidate John Biggs.

Awards and nominations

Khan has been awarded a Tower Hamlets Civic Award. In 2010, she was short listed for the European Muslim Women of Influence Award. 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.

Personal life

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